Unravel the Heart
by Crackdom Hearts
Summary: The series as you know it has been unraveled. Join Sora and company through an alternate continuity where the ridiculous is probable and the nonsensical is definite. Oh, and there's this one dude whose trying to destroy the world with that crazy old DiZ.
1. Unravel the Heart

**Warnings (Rating): **Harsh language, suggestive situations portrayed in a satirical light, several instances of OOC behavior because, c'mon guys, it's a parody.

**Warnings (Plot): **Casual mentions of BBS spoilers, mentioned in sort of an off-handed manner. A multitude of pairings that will, in all liklihood, switch off with each other for the most part, and general stupidity now and then.

**Pairings: **Really none at the moment. Mentions of Roxas/Namine, and of Ansem being a pedophile if you count that.

Enjoy

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Unravel the Heart

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**Unravel the Heart**

**Prologue**

**By Crackdom Hearts**

As many are acquainted, there is a tale told across the worlds of a boy who saved us all from certain doom, shining key in hand, as he battled for the safety of the Heart of All Worlds. Associated with this tale are various other stories, all tied to it in one way or another, furthering the accounts of this boy's exploits across the Ocean Between. In order to protect the Great Heart, the boy had to overcome the powers of those who preyed upon Hearts, as well as those who had none at all. This culminated in a struggle with the one who started it all, existing in multiple iterations of his self. Of course, the boy eventually succeeded, and peace and happiness was finally returned to the lives and worlds that the One Who Started It All had ruined.

But curiously, this account does not seek to tell this tale. The document you now hold in your hand is one of altered beginnings and shifting circumstance. For you see, in a universe where multiple worlds exist together, and yet separate, on multiple planes of reality, it is to be expected (at least, among those of us who are versed in such things) that a continuity of events may eventually split or deviate, creating alternate planes where the same people live out the same lives in alternative circumstances.

To put it simply and in a term most will understand, an Alternate Reality. The tale you are about to be told is of one such Alternate Reality, one in which the Boy Hero and his Key did indeed set out on their quest to quell the Darkness and protect the Light, but through a variety of slight changes in events did the boy arrive at a completely different conclusion.

…We feel compelled to inform you, however, that you may be surprised by the events that are to transpire in this continuity. Some of the happenings, as well as the personalities of those you may know from the Age-Old Tale of the Boy and the Key, differ in such drastic senses that… well, we of the Order who oversees these things felt it was necessary that this account be classified as "Parody".

We also are obligated to inform you that, should you choose to read on, you may indeed lose some vital cells required for cognitive faculties. We know we did.

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~ ~ ~ Keyblade ~ ~ ~ ~ Oblivion ~ ~ ~ ~ Heart ~ ~ ~ ~ Card ~ ~ ~ ~ Nothing ~ ~ ~

* * *

Sora stood strong, glaring down at Larxene. His Keyblade was held in a loose, girly grip, wielded by his mighty stick-like arms that somehow produced a great degree of physical strength. It was probably due to his heart's strength or some shit like that. Larxene crouched on the ground, defeated. She had discovered Axel's treachery and ran off to intercept Naminé and Sora, planning on killing the boy. However, Sora's Zoo Friends, Donald and Goofy, had at some point had a change of heart over Sora's earlier Temper Tantrum and had come to his rescue right when he was at the Callous Vixen's mercy.

And so Larxene had been defeated. But not by getting wet, because that's really dumb, guys.

Sora continued to glare, so hard that his eyes probably would have slapped him for straining them so hard had they any hands to slap with. But alas, they were but eyes. They could not produce slaps. Ah, right, Sora and the glaring. Anyway, he was glaring pretty fiercely. I mean, it was still kind of non-threatening, because hey, it's Sora for crying out loud, but it was a glare of ferocity all the same.

"Any last words?" he demanded of the cruel, blond Nobody.

Larxene, as it turned out, did have some last words. "Yeah, fuck off. I'm not about die to some 14-Year-Old brat. Later." And with that, she abruptly left. Sora was rather dumbfounded.

"But, I didn't kill her… this can't be right at all." Donald and Goofy merely shrugged. "Ah well. I guess I'll check on Naminé over there."

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Unravel the Heart

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Meanwhile, in the Castle's lower levels, Lexaeus had managed to recover Vexen's charred and abused body. As it turned out, Axel gave him a light singe. Nothing too serious. Vexen was just being a drama queen and made it look like he had died so that Sora would leave him alone.

"The good news," Lexaeus began, sounding rather exasperated at having had to go and fetch the crispy scientist. "Is that there doesn't appear to be any signs of sexual abuse."

"Well that's a relief. I guess that means Axel didn't rape him like he kept threatening he would." Zexion murmured, eyeing Vexen's wounds with a critical eye. "Can he stand?"

Lexaeus shrugged. "He screams every time I try to put him on his feet. I decided to just leave it alone." At this, Vexen huffed his blackened lips, opening his eyes to stare at the ceiling from his examination table, where Lexaeus had laid him.

"You try standing with enflamed, super-sensitive toes, and tell me how YOU like it! Stupid Axel and his stupid fire. I swear, the lengths we go to in order to capture traitors."

"You know Xemnas." Zexion responded, rifling through a first-aid kit. "Innocent until proven guilty. We can't just reign in Larxene and Marluxia for _suspected _treason. It just _has _to be proven. Justice and all that bull crap. Really though, I think he's just too bent on the whole "Organization XIII" name, and wouldn't want any members going missing because it would upset that name."

"We got along just fine when we were just "The Organization"!" Vexen snapped back.

"Oh, shut up Vexen. You're being a drama queen again." Zexion replied. "And this is going to sting." He then proceeded to force Lexaeus to rub Vexen's body down with some sort of medicinal spray, causing Vexen to scream out in pain multiple times while Zexion merely chucked, mumbling 'Yes' to himself.

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Unravel the Heart

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At the same time that this was going on, Riku was proceeding through the Castle's Basement levels, which were oddly well-lit considering that Zexion and company preferred to spend time in the dark. Riku was also being accompanied by a man dressed in red clothing. He called himself DiZ, which was a silly acronym, and Riku had come to the conclusion that he was a crazy old man.

"And then my youngest nephew told me he was a Homosexual. Of course, this was before being a homosexual was 'cool', so I made sure to inform him that he would be in grave danger from the forces of darkness. They had yet to elect Mayor D-Light Shadowberg as leader of the Heartless, you see, and the mayor at the time, Mayor Constan Naggle Angelstarson was a very outspoken homophobe. It was national policy in the Realm of Darkness to attack homosexuals and take their hearts. I tried to warn my nephew of this, but he refused, claiming something or other about Gum-Drop Ships, which were apparently flying legos. And that reminds me, did you know I'm not scheduled to go insane for another five days ago?"

Riku was growing quite tired of DiZ's constant rambling, so he stuffed him in a box for safe-keeping. Just for the time being, of course.

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Unravel the Heart

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In the upper levels of the Castle, Sora had managed to rescue Naminé and defeat Axel and Marluxia, two powerful Nobodies, much like he did Larxene. How he managed to do so with his stick-arms and prepubescent form is a mystery we shall never solve. However, much like Larxene, the both of them slunk away after their defeat, rather than dying properly. It was really quite troublesome, and was beginning to affect his manly pride. Or at least, what little he had.

"They're supposed to die! What the hell, man?" Goofy tried to calm Sora down, but Sora just punched him in the face, telling him to 'Back off, man.'

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Unravel the Heart

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Axel later went down to the Basement of Castle Oblivion, where our Heroes currently found themselves in case you're unfamiliar with the premise of this tale, and began to report that Sora was now asleep at the top of the Castle.

Vexen was being a really bitchy bitch, though. "Get out of here! You burned my beautiful body! I shall never forgive you as long as you live, Axel! NEVER! Make sure you remember that, because I mean it, and it'll probably be important way later!"

Axel ignored Vexen's absurd attempts at foreshadowing and instead focused on Zexion, because he was a pretty cool guy who used illusions and didn't afraid of anything. "Anyway, Marluxia and Larxene went back to The Castle That Never Was, and Xemnas is probably gonna punish them for their misdeeds. But he obviously won't kill them, due to his hang-ups on the number 13."

Zexion nodded and sighed. "Indeed. Well shit. I guess that means we can go ahead and dispose of Riku. Also, does anyone know where that Replica ran off to? That thing that Vexen made."

Lexaeus raised his hand, looking very eager, so Zexion called on him. After a brief moment of cheering, Lexaeus cleared his throat and regained his composure, calmly addressing the Cloaked Schemer. "Naminé broke its brain. I'm pretty Larxene ran off with it after she lost to Sora though. She's probably raping it."

Zexion stared blankly for a moment. "Charming."

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Unravel the Heart

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Riku could sense that he was nearly at the top of the basement floors. Something just told him. These strong feelings never steered him wrong, either. After all, he had had a strong feeling that Maleficent had only the best intentions, and look how that worked out!

However, to interrupt his thought of self-love mixed with eternal self-loathing (because c'mon, it's Riku), Zexion had suddenly appeared. "Hello there. My name is Zexion. In life I carried the name Ienzo. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Would you like to go to the Destiny Islands? It's a fantastic place full of candy, and Kairi. I'm sure that interests you. Here, play with this." After his bit of exposition, he tossed a card at Riku.

Riku, being the dumbass that he is, happily jumped into the next room using his fancy new Island card, and was happily brought to the Destiny Islands. Of course, that happiness was short-lived when Zexion appeared again and started calling Riku names.

Riku started to cry. But it was alright, because Zexion said he was sorry.

"…Not."

And then Riku got mad. However, he was trapped inside some light after that, because Zexion is a Gee and can imitate Sora. But Naminé, who loves many things, but none more than foiling, chose that moment to appear and speak to Riku, and foil Zexion's plans.

"Hey Riku. Hi, it's me, Kairi. I'm not actually Kairi, but hey, you can't tell the difference because I'm in disguise. Moving on. Stop being a candy ass, scaredy bitch and use the Darkness. Light and Darkness exist in you as a balance for a reason. So quit your boo-hooing and fight back."

After Naminé's brief pep-talk, Riku busted out of the Light using some of his Darkness and then cut across Zexion's chest. It was totally unexpected and Zexion had dropped his guard. That's his story and he's sticking to it.

Riku then battled Zexion in the most epic way you can possibly fight someone while wearing a dress. But just as he was about to land the finishing blow, Zexion did some crazy shit with his powers of Illusion and brought out the Darkness in Riku's Heart.

Riku was now staring at the one and only Ansem, Seeker of Darkness (but not the one and only Ansem, because there are a few of those).

"Whoa whoa whoa, did you just pull Ansem out of my heart?" Riku asked incredulously.

"Yeah, apparently I can do that." was Zexion's casual reply.

Ansem seemed very satisfied with himself, grinning like a preening peacock.

"Wow, look at him. He's grinning like a preening peacock." Riku exclaimed.

"That simile was dumb and so are you." Zexion said, shaking his head at Riku.

So then Zexion made Ansem fight Riku, because he had summoned him by stealing Ansem's Soul Card, so apparently that made him Zexion's slave. What is a Soul Card, you ask? Why, it's a person's soul. Put into card form. Because this is Kingdom Hearts and that sort of thing can happen. Got a problem with that?

In any case, Ansem and Zexion both somehow failed to defeat Riku, but they happily escaped later, when Zexion felt he had been humiliated enough by a boy in a skirt.

Riku was pretty bummed that he hadn't killed either of them, but was satisfied enough about his victory that he went on his merry way up the castle until he eventually came across a room with a bunch of pods in it (on the way he had managed to pass a random room with a sleeping, comatose kid in it, but he didn't pay that any attention). Walking into the room with the pods, he saw a girl dressed in a skimpy white dress. She would probably be a knockout in a year or two. Not that Riku would really notice. He was far too preoccupied with his nightmares of Ansem's pedophilia to engage in any kind of normal relationship with anyone.

"Oh, you're here." The girl remarked in surprise. "That was faster than expected."

"You were expecting me?"

"Yeah-huh. Anyway, I'm Naminé, and Sora and his friends are sleeping in those pods there. I screwed with their memories, so I kinda gotta fix the shit I did."

"Understandable." Riku clearly saw nothing out of the ordinary with this situation.

DiZ chose that moment to burst out of the box Riku had stuffed him in. "I am a scientist! Allow me to take the boy to my lab, where he shall be safe from the Organization, and their wicked, rapey ways."

This was mutually agreed upon, and so it was done.

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Unravel the Heart

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Meanwhile, the defeated members of The Organization (except for Lexaeus, who had not done any fighting) all slinked back to their hideout in The World That Never Was, prepared to be chastised by Xemnas for failing to defeat Riku or capture Sora. However, as luck would have it, Xemnas was far too preoccupied with punishing Marluxia and Larxene for their treachery to care about the others.

"Larxene, I am taking away your television privileges."

"Oh fuck you!"

"And Marluxia, no more nail polish."

Marluxia openly bawled his eyes out.

Roxas watched the proceedings with abstract curiosity, but then paid it no mind as he went back to eating ice cream and playing video games with Xion. Axel joined them soon after, happy to be home. But then one day Xion kinda went axe-crazy and started stabbing anyone she could find with a cleaver, so Xemnas made her fuse with Roxas and put a stop to all that nonsense.

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Unravel the Heart

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Some time later, about a year to be exact, Sora had awoken in DiZ's laboratory. DiZ had instructed Riku to try and reign in Roxas, since he was Sora's Nobody, in an attempt to help hasten Sora's awakening. Unfortunately, Riku never succeeded in getting Roxas alone, as he was being constantly backed up by his homies, Axel and Saïx_, _who had taken an uncharacteristic liking to the boy.

So DiZ asked Naminé to use some witchcraft she had learned out of a Heathen Tome to supply Sora with some new, pretend memories to fill the small holes here and there. Thus, Sora succeeded in awakening without Roxas.

Sora then proceeded to go on an amazing adventure, meeting up with all his old friends, making new ones, and attempting to put a stop to Organization XIII's dastardly plans for creating Kingdom Hearts.

DiZ had apparently gone completely off the deep end at some point during the adventure, and attacked Kingdom Hearts with a Nuclear Warhead he had invented. This resulted in an explosion, harshly damaging Kingdom Hearts and sending DiZ spiraling off into the Dark Meridian for some reason.

Meanwhile, Sora advanced through the worlds and defeated several members of Organization XIII, although each of them just refused to die, always managing to escape before the final curtain was dropped on their life expectancy. Sora swore often during these periods of times, and often subjected his Zoo Friends to physical abuse as a vent for his angsty, teenaged rage.

Eventually, Sora had given even Roxas quite the thrashing, so he decided to back off and go chill with Axel. The two ended up playing video games during the entire time Sora was in The World That Never Was, completely ignoring the Final Battle raging nearby.

Speaking of, Sora had eventually reached Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII, and the two met in a massive, climactic struggle. However, Sora eventually won, due to his extremely thick and powerful Plot Armor, and Xemnas crouched, defeated.

"And NOW, I will FINALLY kill one of you guys!" Sora exclaimed with maniacal exuberance. However, just then, reason struck a chord in his Sora Mind. "Wait a sec… all you guys want is to get hearts, so that you can be complete again. That's actually not so bad. You just went about this in a very wrong way. I mean, couldn't you have just ASKED me?"

Xemnas thought about this, and realized he had been kind of stupid. "Well, then…" he began, standing up and clearing his throat. "Sora, would you please help us complete Kingdom Hearts by Killing Heartless for us, so that we can become whole again?" Xemnas asked, very politely.

Sora nodded his head. "Sure thing. Just let me do it at my own pace. And in return, you guys can't do any more evil, alright?"

Xemnas nodded. "That sounds like a fair trade."

Nearby, Larxene cursed loudly. "Ugh, can I at LEAST keep my bondage gear?"

Xemnas face-palmed. "Go to your room."

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Unravel the Heart

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And so it was that Sora and The Organization came to an understanding. Sora and his friends happily went back home, with Sora often visiting to hang out with his new best buddy Roxas, and The Organization settled into a sort of familial lifestyle while they awaited the eventual completion of Kingdom Hearts.

However, all was not well…

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Kingdom ~~~~ Power ~~~~ Soul ~~~~ Prayer ~~~~ Door ~~~~ Sin ~~~

* * *

Marluxia stomped through The Castle That Never Was, obviously quite flustered. "How dare Xemnas! I give the kitchen the finest paint job imaginable, and he takes away my Flower Arrangement classes? Injustice! Obscene! Unacceptable! Oh, I'm going to get my revenge on him one way or another…"

With thoughts of revenge on his mind, Marluxia began stalking the hallways towards Xemnas' office. _All I have to do is spy on him a bit, maybe get some blackmail. Heheh, perfect! I'll make him sorry._ The Graceful Assassin soon arrived at the office door, emptying out a nearby Vase of flowers all over the floor and pressing it against the door, his ear pressed against the vase to create an easy listening outlet.

_"Sooooon, Kingdom Hearts. Very soon. You shall be complete…"_

_Ugh, he's just talking to Kingdom Hearts again. Weirdo. _Marluxia rolled his eyes, wondering how on earth Saïx and Xaldin ever put up with the man.

_"And when that time comes, finally, I will ascend to Godhood and create this world anew. Hmhmhmhmm… and that foolish Keyblade Wielder will be the one to willingly help me do it."_

Marluxia's eyes widened. So wide, the Pacific Ocean saw them and said "Dayamn!" He backed away from the door, dropping the Vase by accident as it crashed to the floor. Xemnas was… using Sora? Well, it was no real surprise. Marluxia had always suspected the man had never given up on his evil ways. But still, the rest of The Organization all thought they were just in this to get their hearts back! Well, Xaldin was kinda obsessed with just getting stronger, but nonetheless. Marluxia would have to tell them all right away!

However, just then the door burst open, and there stood Xemnas, Ethereal Blades in hand as he glared at Marluxia. "A fly on the wall now, hmm? I'm afraid you've discovered far too much, Marluxia."

Marluxia guffawed, Z-Snapped, owned a runway in heels, struck a pose, and then pulled out his scythe. "Bring it, girlfriend!"

However, seeing Marluxia engage in these activities deeply upset Xemnas's inner insecurities he obtained from Terra regarding pedophilic tendencies towards younger men like Riku, which were so deep-seated that they had to be repressed through a series of psychiatric sessions, but here they were being all dug back up and Xemnas was NOT a happy camper.

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Unravel the Heart

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And so it was, in a blind fury, that he brutally murdered Marluxia. The Graceful Assassin's body was found the next day inside one of the Kitchen Trash Cans, much to Demyx's horror (the poor guy discovered him).

A funeral was soon held, with all of Marluxia's friends and acquaintances in attendance. Xemnas was grinning evilly throughout the entire thing, but for some reason, no one paid him any attention.

Shortly afterward, Roxas and Naminé began dating, prompted to do so by Xaldin, who blurted out in a drunken moment of profound wisdom (at the funeral's after party, because apparently Happiness should follow Death) that they should totally start dating. The two spent their first date eating Ice Cream, and by sheer luck of the draw, they managed to win a trip on a cruise.

And so, on the dawn of the morrow, they will set off on their luxury liner, bringing with them a small group of friends. And disaster looms on the eve…

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Unravel ~~~~ Mystery ~~~~ Alternative ~~~~ Zero ~~~~ The Beyond ~~~

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And so you have been introduced to this tale, a tale alike and yet so very different from the Age Old tale of the Boy and the Key. We, the watchers of things of this nature, can not even begin to predict what awaits the future of this continuity. For you see, it is only now happening, as we write this account of its events. But one thing is for certain. While the activities and happenings of this Universe have certainly caused the loss of some dear brain cells, it has also caused us to gain something. We are not yet sure of what, but a deeper mystery is at work here.

This account served as the first attempt to unravel the Heart of this mystery. There shall be more to come. And hopefully, by journey's end, we will have found our meaning.


	2. Nautical Discourse

**Warnings: Language all over the place. And some comic violence.**

**Pairings: Established Roxas/Namine, Implied Sora/Kairi, innuendo all over the place.  
**

**Unravel the Heart**

**Chapter 1: Nautical Discourse**

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Unravel ~ Keyblade ~ Soul ~ Balance

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Roxas watched in enraptured interest as several multi-colored circles flew down his TV Screen, lighting up in flames and sometimes even lightning as they smacked into the "deadline" in time with Sora's rapid, button-mashing fingers. "I can't believe you can play on this difficulty! Every time I try I end up breaking my fingers and bleeding inside my chest for some reason." Roxas commented, watching Sora wield his plastic Guitar as if he thought it was real.

"I'm just that awesome!" Sora replied, mashing more buttons in time with the music he was supposed to be playing.

However, Roxas decided at that moment that Sora had crossed the line by calling himself awesome, and so he tackled the other boy and began to savagely beat him about the face with his fists. Sora, surprised, took it like a bitch, blood spouting from his nose and ears.

"Take it back." Roxas calmly ordered.

"I'm not awesome!" Sora cried out, tears running down his cheeks as Roxas got off of him, dusting himself off. However, Sora then got up and snapped Roxas's arm in two, grinning like a maniac as Roxas's eyes widened to twice their normal size.

"Sora, what the fuck! What the fucking fuck!"

"You didn't think I was really crying, did you?" Sora laughed, pulling Roxas's arm back further.

"Sora, it's gonna come off! God damn it!" Roxas howled in a panic as he stamped his feet against the ground.

Suddenly, Sora was cracked over the head by a vase, and fell to the ground in a heap. Roxas sighed and turned around, seeing Naminé standing there with a disapproving look on her face. "Ahhh. Thanks Naminé. Geez, I'm gonna have to kick his ass later for that."

"No need," Kairi said, suddenly popping in and grabbing Sora's arm as she dragged him off. "I'll rape him into submission."

"Appreciated!" Roxas called after her before she vanished around a corner, sighing again as he began casting Cure spells on himself. "I'm starting to regret bringing them with us…" he mumbled.

Naminé just grinned at him in a disarming fashion, clearly trying to get him to stop his perfectly reasonable bitching. "But come on! This cruise might have gotten boring without company."

"I guess..." Roxas remarked, leaning on his now-healed arm as he stared out a nearby window at the rolling waves outside. Winning this luxury cruise off of a Sea-Salt Ice Cream snack was the last thing he had really been expecting when he had taken Naminé out at Xaldin's insistence. But it had been a welcome surprise, and she hadn't been too fond of going by themselves – after all, they had only just started dating. She didn't need Roxas getting any rapey ideas or anything till she knew him (intimately~) a little better.

So naturally, she wanted to go on a cruise with their closest friends, and it just so happened that they could bring up to five friends with them. Roxas had invited Sora and Kairi, seeing as they had become tight since Sora beat the shit out of The Organization that one time, and he had also begrudgingly invited Xaldin, since it was his suggestion that he and Naminé go out in the first place (drunkenly, but still).

He had also invited Axel and Saïx, since they were his Homie Gees 360, but he was seriously regretting the entire damn trip lately. Why? Well, because the rest of The Organization are a bunch of dildos and decided to invite themselves, teleporting onto the Cruise Ship without invitations via Corridor of Darkness. And Roxas was getting tired of putting up with their bullshit.

At least Xemnas had done the sensible thing and stayed home. And no one had really seen much of Luxord since Marluxia's funeral. Roxas still looked on that funeral with sadness. After all, with Marluxia dead, he didn't have anyone to style his hair anymore. Naminé had taken to doing it, but she was a fuck up with that sort of thing.

"You're right Naminé. Some friends would have been nice. But I didn't wanna invite the entire damn Organization! I mean, we have no time to ourselves to…" Roxas reached out, brushing Naminé's arm, only to have her drive her Rape Knife into his palm. "AHHHHHHHH. What the FUCK Naminé!"

"Sorry, reflex." She apologized sheepishly. "From when Marluxia was still alive."

Xaldin chose that moment to burst onto the scene, carrying a cane and a pimp hat while sipping some fruity drink and chatting on a cell phone. "Yeah, Lido, I got it. Don't fuck with me bitch. Yeah, I know. Just have the stuff on my doorstep Monday or else I'll have you dismembered. Bitch, don't threaten me. I will fucking end you."

"Who do you think he's talking to?" Naminé asked with interest.

Roxas shrugged. "Probably his drug dealer."

Naminé scoffed. "Xaldin don't do no drugs. He does alcohol."

"He's talking to his mother." Larxene piped in, dropping from the ceiling in a seemingly random fashion. "Don't ask me why he calls her Lido, because I'm not a retard, so I can't begin to imagine what goes through his head."

"That's an odd way to talk to your mother… besides, he's a Nobody."

"So? He still had a mom. And she's still alive. What are you fucking stupid or something?" Larxene spoke to Naminé as though she were the biggest piece of shit on the planet. "You're the biggest piece of shit on the planet."

Naminé was now quite burned. "I am quite burned."

"Good." Larxene then strutted off, swishing her hips around and throwing flirty looks at anyone she passed.

"Wow. She's a bitch." Naminé said, mostly to herself. Roxas detected that some bitter rivalry was now in the making, but ignored this feeling in favor of watching Xaldin attempt to shank his cell phone while he screamed at his mother, telling her that she should have known better than to fuck with him.

"Damn woman…" Xaldin said lowly, hanging up his now damaged phone and stuffing it into his pocket. "Well, Roxas, Naminé, how are things with you?" he asked somewhat conversationally, glancing to the side at the Guitar Hero game that still waited, unattended since Sora's leave.

"Uh, we're good. But why the hell were you talking to your mother like that? I mean-"

"You do not know the fathomless depths of that woman's horror, boy." Xaldin cut him off quickly. One of dreadlocks then lifted itself into the air, wrapping around a comically large time piece and passing it to Xaldin. "Oh, bother. It's already 2:15." Xaldin remarked, staring at the time piece as he absently gave his dread lock a small scratch.

Naminé stared, quite evidently weirded out. "What the…"

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I must go." Xaldin explained. "For you see, Larxene is about to take a dip in the pool. I have to be there for that." And without another word, the Whirlwind Lancer took off at a run, gone.

"…Was that dreadlock alive?" Naminé asked, very creeped out.

Roxas pointedly avoided the question. "Hey Naminé, your shoes are untied."

"Oh, well…" Naminé remarked, bending over before she realized she wore sandals. However, when she glanced back up, there was only the wind. "Well damn it all." She then whipped out her faithful sketch pad. She was gonna fix Roxas's shit good…

* * *

Memory ~ Light and Dark ~ Emerald ~ Time

* * *

Zexion reclined on the main deck of the ship, enjoying the relaxing laziness. Above him, several Dusks had contorted their bodies and arranged themselves into a sort of makeshift awning to block the sunlight, keeping Zexion quite satisfied. Another Dusk stood dutifully beside him, its body spasming in that way that only Dusks do, as it awaited orders, such as bringing the schemer a refill on his Long Island Iced Tea.

However, Zexion was very quickly becoming bored. "Sometimes I wonder if it was worth it making that truce with Sora." He remarked to no one. "It's so frightfully boring, not having any new evil schemes to devise." he lamented, longing for the days when he would run around tricking dressy-wearing pansy boys into crying, missing the days he would be emasculated in battle by those same pansies, wished he could relive the days of cursing the heavens as he retreated into the shadows. Being evil was truly such an experience.

"Ya know, you make pretty elaborate hand gestures when you're talking to yourself like a weirdo." Axel mentioned, having walked up with Saïx at his side. The two were adorned in bathing suits, with Axel wearing a pair of water wings and Saïx having a Yellow Ducky Intertube on his waist.

"…What's with the getups?"

"Oh, we're gonna go swimming." Axel responded cheerily.

"…with flotation devices."

"I can't swim." Axel explained, still cheerily.

"And I am terrified of water and need ducky to keep me safe." Saïx dead-panned.

Zexion just stared. "…Kay."

"We were gonna ask if you wanted to come. Larxene's in the water."

"…Did she explode?"

"Nah man, that's really dumb."

"Okay then." Zexion responded lazily. "You two have a blast. I'm gonna sleep here."

At this, Axel seemed to become unpredictably violent, grabbing Zexion's drink and smashing it into his face in a shattering of glass, kicking Zexion's seat over, and spitting on him. "Fine! Be a loser! C'mon Rhy- er, Saïx! Le's bounce, yo!"

Axel and Saïx then quite literally bounced off.

Zexion sputtered, rather shocked that all of that had just happened to him. Even more shocking was that a moment later, Roxas showed up, looking around frantically. He then locked eyes with Zexion and gave him a dead serious look.

"Zexion. Let me hide in your dress."

Before Zexion could even begin to address what was wrong with that statement, Roxas climbed into Zexion's cloak, hiding in it and making Zexion look very fat. A moment later, Cerberus came galloping up to Zexion, barking its three heads and looking really pissed. Hades showed up after a couple of seconds, looking at Zexion. "Hey, Hades, Lord of the Dead, how ya doin', peanuts and cheese, yadda yadda, marijuana. Listen, I'm looking for a kid."

"…and?" Zexion replied.

"Well this albino dame went and called me here with some special sketch pad, said she'd help me put the ol' curtain drop on Mister Hero back home if I helped her out and found her little boy toy, you dig what I'm swinging?"

"…Uh, sure. He went that way." Zexion pointed in a random direction, and Hades and Cerberus promptly ran off. However, Hades stopped and glanced at Zexion's belly.

"Wha's up with that?"

"Oh. I'm preggers."

"Ah." Hades then marched off, seeing nothing wrong with that.

Roxas then climbed out of Zexion's cloak. "Thanks man, you're a life-saver. Naminé is after my blood now because I went and ditched her and so she called those two and… well shit."

"I want you to know that the only reason I helped you is because I was in a state of mental shock. If you ever climb into my cloak again, I will-"

"Ewwwww, Roxas climbed into Zexion's cloak?" Sora shouted, approaching the two with Kairi behind him, as well as Xigbar and Vexen following close by.

Ignoring the exclamation, Roxas raised an eyebrow. "What are you guys doing hanging out with Vexen and Xigbar?"

Kairi smiled. "Xigbar was gonna teach us how to drive. Vexen wants to observe."

"You're gonna learn how to drive… on a ship?"

"Yuhuh."

"Can I come?"

Xigbar glared at Roxas with his good eye. "Dunno little dude. You nearly killed us the last time I took you driving."

"But I've gotten so much better!"

Vexen grinned in a creepy, pedophilic way. "I suppose we could let one more malleable young mind under our careful tutelage…"

"Dude, I already told you," Xigbar admonished. "We're not molesting them. Period."

Vexen looked offended as hell. "I didn't want to molest them! I simply want to observe some Key-Bearers behind the wheel!"

"Yeah," Zexion piped in. "And you want to have sex with them."

"I do not!"

Zexion just laughed, chuckling as he spoke. "Uhh, I'm pretty sure you do."

"Where do you get these obscene ideas!"

"Blame the Fan Dumb." Xigbar replied curtly.

Vexen cursed loudly and stomped off, probably looking for more children to molest.

Hades came back at that moment. "Oh, hey, I just wanted to- Hey! There's the little brat I'm looking for!"

Roxas looked panicked for a second before he spoke quickly. "Um…no! I'm not! I'm a baby! Goo goo. I was just born."

Hades was all smiles. "Oh, my bad little runt. Congratulations," he added, shaking Zexion's hand. "I assume Sora is the father?"

"What? No! This is-"

Sora beamed. "I'm a proud daddy!"

Kairi just stared at Sora with a look that screamed 'I can't believe I like this retard'.

After Hades' final congratulations, he turned and departed, apparently forgetting all about his hunt for Roxas. Xigbar sighed, deciding he had seen enough nonsense for one day, and so took the three teens with him to learn how to drive, leaving Zexion alone once again.

Thank God.

* * *

Zero ~ Heart ~ Atone ~ X

* * *

Standing high above the passengers of the ship, well out of sight from its perch atop the highest cabins, a lone figure dressed in a black, hooded cloak watched the many passengers mill about the ship in apparent interest. Raising its head, it looked off into the distance, a small island visible from its vantage point.

It laughed. "Very soon."

Lifting a hand, the individual produced a small orb of Darkness, staring at it for a moment from beneath its hood, before releasing it. The Dark Orb launched like a cannonball from a catapult, flying at an intense speed around the ship as it grew larger and larger, before finally crashing into the hull of the liner. Screams were heard as the impact resonated throughout the vessel.

"Now show me…" the figure spoke in a low drawl, watching intently as the scene below unfolded.

- - - - - - - - - - - - Change the Beat! - - - - - - - - - - -

Demyx looked up in avid surprise as the entire ship seemed to rock with the force of a major collision. "Wh-what's going on here?" he stammered, falling over backwards off of his beach chair, where he had been casually enjoying the sun by the pool. Lexaeus was beside him, lifting him to his feet (Demyx had thought it odd that the man had wanted to Sun-Bathe, but was rather thankful for his presence now).

"Something isn't right." He spoke.

"Well no shit man! The ship just hit something!"

Lexaeus smacked Demyx upside the head, causing the boy to careen forward into the pool as blood gushed from his eyes and mouth.

"Oops." Lexaeus mused, forgetting his own strength. "Anyhow, I mean that the collision is not a normal collision." He explained as Demyx climbed out of the water, shaking his hair out and grumbling.

Right on cue, however, a large, black hand was made visible over the railing, clamping down as it pulled the rest of its body up, revealing a feral, monstrous face with glowing yellow eyes and a long tongue.

"Is that a Heartless?" Demyx asked, getting to his feet and watching as the creature pulled all of its bulk onto the deck, large and powerful, perhaps the size of three Lexaeuses. And it only seemed to be growing.

Lexaeus nodded. "Yes. Come, we'll have to destroy it." And with that, he calmly called forth his Axe Sword, standing at the ready to fight.

Demyx followed suit and called his sitar, sighing. "Well, alright, but Lex… do ya have to fight in that thing?" Demyx asked, pointing at the only article of clothing that adorned Lexaeus's form; a speedo.

Lexaeus scoffed. "I'm not about to go change."

Demyx sighed again and tried to block out Lexaeus from his vision. "Sure, whatever…"

Apparently tired of watching them with a hungry gaze, the Heartless launched into an attack then, slashing at the broad man first, who parried the blow with his large, red and black sword, before flinging it back against the railing. Demyx strummed out a few notes, now focused, as the pool water rose into a large, powerful pillar, slamming into the great monster, keeping it pinned against the bars.

"Get it Lex!"

Lexaeus nodded and charged forward, his sandals flopping comically against the deck as he raised his Axe Sword to swing down upon the restrained foe. However, the Heartless had a couple of tricks up its sleeve, as it suddenly split its body into two halves just as the Axe blade came crashing down, crushing into the metal bars of the ship instead of the beast. The Heartless's body then put itself back together around the man's outstretched arm, pulling at it and yanking him into the pillar of water with it, intent on devouring him.

Demyx panicked. "Crap, Lexaeus!" he strummed a few more notes then, dropping the pillar to free the man from drowning, allowing his limbs to move more freely as well, but also freeing the trapped Heartless, which only seemed to be getting bigger by the second. "It's already the size of a Darkside now…" Demyx gulped, watching Lexaeus struggle in its grip, punching at its face with his free hand, his other arm still trapped inside the Heartless's body.

Demyx played a few more chords as his feet tapped to a rhythm he was writing as he went along, conjuring up a swarm of Water Clones which grouped around the Heartless' feet, swinging their watery sitars, knocking the creature off balance. As it began to topple forward, another Pillar of water shot out at Demyx's instruction, launching through the beast's arm and freeing Lexaeus from its grasp.

The large Heartless toppled into the now empty pool, giving the Silent Hero ample footing to pull his arm, and his weapon, free from its body, raising it above him before quickly crashing it down onto the beast's head. The Heartless howled in pain as its arms reached for him, freezing in midair as it began to dissolve into Darkness.

Sighing, Lexaeus shouldered his weapon, hoisting himself out of the pool and giving Demyx an appreciative smile. However, before he could say anything, the Darkness reformed itself in the middle of its dissolving state. Shock adorned Lexaeus's features as he saw _two_ of the same Heartless appear in the pool, both smaller than their previous incarnation, but apparently more nimble as they leaped from the pool bottom and landed on either side of the two Nobodies in a pincer formation.

"Why did it come back? You just smashed that thing's head in!" Demyx complained, conjuring a wall of water to protect him and his comrade. Lexaeus grunted.

"I don't know. But we have no choice but to keep fighting."

As the two prepared to reengage their foes, a stream of lightning shot out from above, striking one of the beasts in the forehead. Immediately it fell backward, clutching its skull and screeching in pain. This was followed by the Savage Nymph, Larxene, falling from above, landing gracefully in front of Lexaeus (much to his non-admitted delight, as he observed the woman's bikini she was currently dressed in).

"What the fuck are these things doing here?" she demanded, standing from her crouched landing and staring at Lexaeus. "I don't need a goddamn buzz kill on my vacation. Also, Lexaeus, you need to put on some pants."

Lexaeus just shrugged her comment off. "I don't know. One showed up, I killed it, and now it has become two. I worry what will happen if we kill it again."

Larxene laughed and waved a non-committal hand. "Psh, that's stupid. Just keep killing it till it stays dead." She then proceeded to demonstrate this point by rushing the downed Heartless and slashing its head off with one of her knives, causing it to erupt in a mist of Darkness.

However, much like before, the Darkness just started to reform itself after a moment, and where once stood one were two more Heartless, this time only slightly smaller than the first.

"Told you," Lexaeus said, blocking an attack from the other, still larger Heartless as Demyx prepared to blast it with a jet of water.

Lerxene just growled as she fried the two new pouncing Heartless with a spray of lightning, before calling up a clone and slashing the two creatures into small pieces with its aid. Unsurprisingly, they both of dissolved into Darkness, only to start reforming again. The vixen grit her teeth as she readied more Thunder Magic.

Lexaeus was sporting a different tactic however. As Demyx blasted at the creature, it was sent flying only to be caught in the flat of Lexaeus's Axe Sword, where he proceeded to whirl around, flinging the creature off the ship. "Larxene, stop destroying them and just get rid of them!"

Larxene wasn't listening however, as she was now contending with _eight_ of the little devils, now no larger than Neo Shadows as they eyed her warily. Lexaeus grunted and headed over, prepared to give them the same treatment as the last one, until said last one suddenly appeared in front of him, having traveled a Corridor of Darkness to get back aboard. _Of course. It would figure it wouldn't be that easy._ he thought with chagrin.

However, no sooner had it appeared did it suddenly burst into a pillar of flame, howling in disdain. Lexaeus looked over expectantly, seeing Axel, as he had predicted, still adorned in his water wings.

"Sora, now!" he called, and to Lexaeus's surprise, Sora was right behind Axel, firing a beam of light into the dissolving Darkness of the creature, eradicating it. Axel smirked at Lexaeus. "They'll keep comin' back if you don't erase the Dark with some light."

"Pfff, is that all?" Larxene asked, annoyed. She then wiped out her small wave of foes with a single expanding wave of lightning, causing all of them to erupt into Darkness.

"Light!" Sora called quickly afterward, removing the last remnants of the creatures. "Looks like that handles all of these ones."

"There're more?" Demyx asked in disbelief.

"Sure. How do you think we figured out how to stop them?" Axel asked rhetorically. "The whole ship's crawling with 'em."

Sora addressed the three, filling them in. "We were in the sub-levels, driving some car that Xigbar stole, when a big black orb smashed into the wall right near us. A bunch of Heartless came out of it, and yeah. But that's not important! The ship is sinking!"

"What?" Demyx asked, surprised.

"Well, it DID crash into the hull." Sora repeated.

"Right…"

"So we need to get everyone off this ship and into some Life Boats." Lexaeus reasoned.

Axel and Sora's faces both fell. "Yeah, about that…" Sora said, regrettably.

"The Heartless have already gotten just about everyone." Axel explained bitterly. "The only survivors are those of us who could actually fight. Take a wild guess at who those are,"

"You losers let all the passengers get eaten by Heartless?" Larxene asked, pointing and laughing at them.

Sora glared. "We didn't know how to destroy them at first, and they kept multiplying!"

"Excuses. Mine kept multiplying, and I had no trouble killing it every time."

"Just shut up and stop being a bitch." Axel sighed.

Soon afterward, the group was joined by Xigbar, Xaldin, Vexen, Zexion, Saïx, Roxas, Kairi, and Naminé, who had all apparently finished defeating the remaining Heartless and were receiving a debriefing on what they were doing next.

"So since I imagine none of us want to drown in the sea, we should all just open a portal and get off this boat, right?" Larxene asked airily, feeling it was the most obvious thing to do. Vexen coughed to get her attention.

"Unfortunately, Twelve, that won't be possible."

"Why not?" Demyx asked, confusion written over his face more so than usual.

"Because we already tried it and it didn't work." The academic explained. "We don't know why. It's a curious phenomenon, but none of us seem able to open a Corridor."

Lexaeus, Demyx, and Larxene each gave it a shot, to be sure, only to find that the man was indeed telling the truth. "Well this sucks."

Zexion cleared his throat, speaking up. "Well, there's an awfully convenient island over there." he announced, pointing at a speck of land that seemed to be growing larger as their sinking ship grew nearer. "Perhaps Demyx could manipulate the waves and bring us to it before we sink? And you'll need to make it fast, now. I don't believe we'll be afloat for much longer."

Glancing over the railing, the group all noted how much higher the water seemed to be to the Main Deck than before. Demyx nodded. "Awright, but I'm gonna need me some 'inspiration' for this one!" he exclaimed, pulling out a bag of white dust from out of nowhere.

Murmurs were exchanged among the group as they watched.

"What in the…?"

"Is Demyx on drugs?"

"Oh my!"

"I can't believe this."

"Pfff hahaha."

"How long has this been going on?"

"About since he found Marluxia's body in the trash can."

Sufficiently "inspired", Demyx proceeded to play an extremely fast-paced song on his sitar, churning the waves into a tsunami beneath them as it carried the great ship toward the rapidly-approaching shore line.

"D-Demyx! Slow down!" Vexen hollered, pressed flat against the Deck by the speed at which they were traveling, along with everyone else.

Saïx's Duck Intertube flew off of his waist as he was pressed against the Deck as well, sailing through the air and out of sight. "Ducky! Nooooooooooooooooo!" he cried, his hand reaching fruitlessly for it.

"Whooooo baby!" Demyx cried out in glee, somehow still standing, as the ship began to capsize, twirling upside down as it flew off of the giant wave and careened through the air, heading for a crash landing on the beach.

The various members and Keybladers all screamed out, straining their lungs as they hollered in what could be their last moments alive. Except for Zexion, who, pressed against a wall, just chuckled to himself. When all eyes turned to him, their owners still all screaming as they stared, Zexion merely exclaimed "Yes!"

The ship finally crushed itself into the sand with a resounding explosive noise that echoed across the entirety of the island. Sand erupted into the air in a dust storm of activity, showering the island and the surrounding ocean with the pitter patter of it trickling from the sky. Trees swayed back and forth in the colossal resultant breeze, birds took the sky, crying out, and native animals scurried into their homes as quickly as they could. After several minutes had passed, the sand finally settled, and the ship could be seen jutting out of the beach like a giant monument.

And all was silent.


	3. The Man Named Zero

**Warnings: Language all over the place. And some comic violence.**

**Pairings: Established Roxas/Namine, Implied Sora/Kairi, Implied One-Sided (Possibly Non-Consensual) Axel/Saix, innuendo all over the place.  
**

**Unravel the Heart**

**Chapter 2: The Man Named Zero**

* * *

Nameless ~ Paradox ~ Light

* * *

Sora blinked his eyes wearily, staring at an expanse of blackness. He couldn't feel his body; not his arms, his legs, his torso, not even his heart beating. He wasn't even entirely certain where he was supposed to be, what had just happened, or if he was even alive. His thoughts visited that notion with a surprising amount of calm. However, after time that seemed to last an eternity had passed, he could feel his breathing, and his arms twitching with movement. He could feel a coarse, grainy substance that was all too familiar to his island-raised self pressing against the areas of his skin that were exposed. He became conscious of the fact that he was staring up at a large amount of deformed metal, which was canopied over him in a manner that blocked the rays of the sun, but out of the corner of his eye he could see a glimmer beyond the shade.

Slowly, he moved himself into an upright position, checking his body for damage as memories of what had just happened came back to him. To his intense surprise, he found that he was relatively unharmed aside from a few tender bruises across his body – he made quick work of those via a few cure spells.

Getting to his feet, he walked out from beneath the cover of twisted metal and looked around the sunny beach he now found himself on. The sand wasn't white, so he figured it probably wasn't tropical, although it still seemed pretty warm. _Well, it _was _summer anyway, so that makes sense._

He then noticed a flicker of movement nearby, and turned to see Larxene near a campfire, cooking up some CHICKUN. Sora's mouth salivated at the smell that suddenly hit him, and he found himself quickly running over to her. "Larxene! Where did you get that CHICKUN?"

"Back off bitch, this is _my _CHICKUN." She seemed to become immediately defensive as she readied a few knives with malice.

"Whoa, whoa, relax! I just wanted to know where you got it."

"The forest, dumb fuck. Where else would I find CHICKUN on a deserted island? There isn't a damn KFC around here."

"Quit breaking the fourth wall."

"Oh right. Sorry. There isn't a damn MFC (Moogle-Fried CHICKUN) around here."

"Riiiight. So… we're on a deserted island?"

"Yep. Most of us have already woken up. Kairi moved you below that broken part of the ship over there," the woman gestured at the metal Sora had been asleep under, "so that you wouldn't fry or something. I dunno. Zexion is the only one still passed out."

"Wow… is anyone else injured? Because I was pretty unharmed and all."

"Oh, we all had horrific injuries, you included. But Naminé used her heathen magic from her Tome of Black Magic to heal us for the most part. Although we're lucky she still had her right arm. If she had lost them both, then we woulda been pretty fucked."

Sora tried not to think about Naminé missing an arm, or about whatever horrific injuries he had sustained. "So, where is everyone else?"

"Would you shut the fuck up and let me eat my damn CHICKUN?"

Sora, now enraged, moved to attack Larxene for being a bitch, but she casually warped behind him and jabbed a knife into his ass. He fell to the ground, feeling both pain and violation. "What the heeeelllllll! I thought you couldn't teleport!"

"Dumbass. We can't open Corridors of Darkness for some reason. I can still warp around the area, and stuff."

Sora very delicately removed the knife from his southern orifice, throwing it venomously at the ground as he cured his aching bottom. "Can you please just tell me where everyone went?"

Larxene sighed, in a way that clearly indicated she thought Sora was the biggest waste of time, space, and energy that currently existed on the face of the planet. "You are the biggest waste of time, space, and energy that currently exists on the face of the planet. They all went into the forest to go look for and explore that thing," she explained impatiently, gesturing behind her.

As Sora looked up at the direction she pointed in, he noticed a very large structure off in the distance. It towered above the top of the semi-distant forest, made of what appeared to be stones and bricks. It looked like some sort of temple, like the sort you might see in some Aztec legend or some other clichéd ancient civilization. "They _all _went?"

"Yes. Didn't I just say that? Zexion's here, but, like I said, he's still out. He's over there." She pointed in a different direction now, and as Sora followed her finger, his gaze landed on a cloak-clad body laying face-down in the dirt, its rear pointing skyward as its head appeared to be buried in the sand.

"You uh… just left him like that?"

"Yeah, thought it'd be funnier."

Sora and Larxene both spared a laugh at Zexion's expense.

"Well, I guess I'll go into the forest and see if I can find everybody."

"Yeah, because that's totally a good idea." Larxene replied, sitting back down to her fire to consume her delicious CHICKUN.

Sora flipped her off as he wandered off toward the forest.

Larxene returned the gesture with vigorous gusto.

* * *

Chocolate ~ Chickun ~ Vanilla

* * *

Xaldin marched confidently through the thick undergrowth of the great island forest, garbed in a chic, badass Safari Hat, still carrying around his pimp cane, and with several of his dreadlocks wielding machetes to slice through the obstructing foliage of the troublesome jungle. He was the absolute pinnacle of manliness, or so he figured.

Demyx followed behind, complaining about the bugs and the heat, which was being caused due to Axel's natural body heat overflowing from him (due to the excitement of going on a safari, or so he figured). Saïx wandered about near the two of them, looking more depressed than usual as he drew imaginary duckies in the air with a stick he had found.

Behind this group of four, somewhat separated, Lexaeus marched at a stalwart pace, carrying Kairi and Naminé on his back as they giggled and cheered and pretended they were magical princesses with the power to conjure rainbow ponies from Glitter Sparkly Gummy Bear Land, and that Lexaeus was their steed, the Magical Pink and Green Seven-Headed Dragon Demon of Mistress Gumdrop's Hidden Brigade. Lexaeus occasionally played along by making baying noises, which he assured the girls was the sound a seven-headed demon dragon made.

Xigbar brought up the rear of the traveling ensemble, carrying Vexen over his shoulder (as the man had apparently passed out from the heat) while Roxas trotted alongside him, chatting animatedly about some drink or something.

"…But I just prefer, like, Rock Star, or Full Throttle, you know? Red Pull tastes like how I imagine piss must taste like…"

"Yuh-huh, that's nice Rox."

"But Monster is just getting really popular, and it's kinda annoying when all my friends are like 'Hey Roxas, have a Monster!', and I try to tell them I prefer Full Throttle, and they call me a fag and tell me to stop spooshing."

"Uh-huh."

"But you know it's not cool to call people fags; it's a slur, you know? So you should instead call people homosexuals. If I said "Shut up, homosexual", it'd be politically correct, right?"

"Sure."

"And then there's the whole issue of-"

"Okay, Roxas, seriously, shut the fuck up. Shut the fuck up or I'm going to fucking shoot you in your face, I am not even kidding you. I will fucking _kill_ you. You got that?"

Roxas went silent, other than a small mumble under his breath about Xigbar being a homosexual before he jogged ahead to catch up with Axel and Saïx, confident that they'd appreciate his company.

"You know, I was wondering when you'd tell that child to cease his yapping." Vexen spoke up.

"And when the hell did you regain consciousness?" Xigbar asked, now irritated at the Academic.

"Oh, about five minutes ago. But I was enjoying the ride, so I figured I'd stay put."

Xigbar threw Vexen unceremoniously onto the ground, muttering obscenities.

"Pox! Pox and malady!" Vexen screeched in indignation, waving his hand at Xigbar in a manner he assumed to be magical.

"Dude, you're not Naminé. You can't use heathen magic."

Up ahead, Naminé piped up, turning to face Vexen. "Yeah, you're not _me_, Vexen."

"Fucking poser." Kairi added, shaking her head and sharing a knowing look with Naminé before the two resumed their imaginary adventures on Lexaeus's back.

Vexen's lip curled upward in evident fury, but he said no more, standing and dusting himself off before stepping back into pace behind Xigbar. "How much more of this infernal jungle must we endure before we reach our destination?" he bitched, trying to sound fancy to disguise it.

Xaldin shouted back from the head of the line. "You had better not start asking 'Are we there yet?'. If you do, I will end you the same way I ended Lido."

"You mean your mommy?" Demyx asked.

Xaldin turned to face him. "Don't you dare speak of that woman in a manner that links her to me through familial bonds. She is Lido. I will cut you."

Demyx appeared to urinate on himself. "Awww man!"

Amidst Axel and Roxas's snickers, Xaldin turned again to snipe away at more leafy obstructions, when suddenly he reached a clearing. "Aha! We have arrived at the Crazy Temple Place!"

An assortment of cheers erupted from behind him as they stepped out into the clearing and stared up at the rather sizable marvel of ancient stonework. Or at least, it looked pretty ancient.

"Well! Let's get inside! This blasted heat is going to give me a stroke!" Vexen bitched once more, much to the eye-rolling chagrin of Xigbar. Anxious to prevent any further bitching, the group followed the scientist's cue and strode boldly up the line of brickwork stairs, which led toward a dark entryway.

* * *

Assassin ~ Vixen ~ Key

* * *

Zexion awoke in a rather calm, fully-aware state of mind, understanding immediately that he was neck-deep in sand, which his lungs were filling up with. He proceeded to pluck his head out of the sand, shaking the dirt-like substance from his mop of choppy locks, and then rolled up his sleeve. On his wrist was a rather handy wrist-calendar, which identified the date. It was apparently several days past the date Zexion had remembered it being while he had been on board the ship.

"What the hell? How long was I out?"

Looking around him, the schemer could see his comrades and associates nearby, gathered around a large bonfire. There also appeared to be some spectacle going on in the midst of the crowd. Tentatively, Zexion rose and made his way toward the group.

Upon arrival, he was rather shocked to see his fellows in the Organization, as well as Sora, all gathered around Larxene, Naminé, and Kairi, who were covered in chocolate sauce, vanilla cream, and sprinkles as they wrestled about in a pit of more chocolate sauce. Larxene clearly had the upper hand, but the two girls were fighting her rather scrappily. Also they had bikinis. Yes. Bikinis. Of course, Zexion, being an asexual individual, found no interest in this.

"Uh… what the hell is going on here?" he asked, quite confused by the entire scenario.

Sora turned and grinned, his mouth smeared with chocolate sauce. "Oh, hey guys, Zexion is awake finally! Man, it's been, like, a week!"

"Yeah, that's nice, answer my question."

"Oh," Sora responded. "Well, we all went exploring a while ago, and I had to battle a big Tyrannosaurus Rex! It was pretty extreme, but my Keyblade and the light saw me through. I think I saw his majesty at the end of a tunnel, reminding me that I had to get up and then he cast some light that restored my drive gauge, so I traveled back in time and used my old red jumpsuit to waste that dinosaur! Then we found a temple, but it was being guarded by a ferocious Seven-Headed Dragon Demon, and it hissed, which seemed to piss off Naminé and Kairi a lot, so Naminé used a heathen tome spell and turned it into crack, which we all partook in. Then Demyx had the idea that Larxene was a giant bitch, and Naminé and Kairi had to agree, so Larxene called them on their shit, and they started fighting. Xigbar thought it'd be better with bikinis. And I thought it would be better with condiments. So now we're doing that. They've been fighting every day since!"

"All this fighting is getting me aroused." Saïx stated blandly.

"Well let's go fix that." Axel replied, dragging him off behind a bush.

Roxas stared after them and laughed. "Man, those guys are total homosexuals, am I right Xigbar?"

Xigbar shot Roxas in the face.

Amidst Roxas's screams, Larxene finally noticed Zexion was awake, and wasted no time in easily pinning both Kairi and Naminé so that she could speak. "Hey, idiots! Zexion is awake now! Isn't there something you're supposed to be doing?"

Lexaeus nodded. "That's right, I had forgotten. When we entered the temple, there was a barrier inside that turned the entire structure into a maze of illusions. We needed you to wake up so that we could get you to disarm it with your powers. We still can't open Corridors of Darkness here, and we figure the Temple might be a chance for a clue. Otherwise, we're stranded."

Zexion pulled out his Lexicon and proceeded to conjure up a beach chair made of pages from the large tome, before reclining easily. "I'm far too lazy to go exploring into some island temple. Here." He handed a page to Lexaeus. "That has a standard illusion-dispelling enchantment in it. Just throw it at the barrier."

Lexaeus took the page and nodded, sighing at Zexion's back-handed helpfulness. "Alright. I'm going. Who's coming with?"

Xaldin, Vexen, and Xigbar each announced their intention of accompanying the Silent Hero. The remaining individuals followed Zexion's example in reclining on the beach. However, the three women continued to engage in their wrestling match, finding more interest in that.

Axel emerged from wherever he had taken Saïx, a grin on his face while Saïx sported a disconcerted look. "Ya know," Axel said, taking a seat next to the schemer, "Larxene claims she's raped Roxas. She also says she wants to sex up Naminé and Kairi. But that just seems to make them hate her more. I think she likes it that way."

"And this is relevant information to me, why?"

Axel looked at Zexion as though he were a giant prick. "God, excuse me for trying to make conversation." He then got up and kicked sand at Zexion in a fit of fury before marching off to kick over Demyx's sand castle, much to the musician's indignation.

Just then, in a sudden rupture of smoke, a large door appeared in the sand. All eyes now on the door, it opened a moment later, and out stepped the red-garbed DiZ.

"Greetings and salutations, my hated Nobodies. Oh, and hello Kairi, you're looking radiant today."

"What about me, DiZ?" Sora asked with an excited grin.

DiZ ignored him. "I have arrived here in my inter-dimensional portable laboratory door to speak with Zexion. Would you mind?"

Demyx looked at DiZ with beseeching eyes. "Can you get us off this island? We can't teleport…"

"No." DiZ replied rather staunchly.

Zexion sighed as he eyed DiZ, before getting up in a great show of effort and stepping into the doorway. DiZ then closed it.

Safely tucked away inside the scientist's apparently portable lab, DiZ proceeded to speak. "Ienzo-"

"Don't call me that."

"But for old time's-"

"No."

"Fine. Jerk. In any case, I wanted to inform you that my experiments within the Realm of Darkness are going well. With enough prospected progress, I hypothesize that finding your heart in the darkness shall certainly be within reach very soon. But as you know, this is a mutually beneficial agreement, and if I am to continue providing you with your desired progress, you must continue providing me with the resources I desire and require. Notably, your Dusks take instruction very poorly compared to my drones. I'd have no need of them if my drones could function in the dark realm, but alas, that is not the case. I require a more responsive, suitable servant to help me make my progress. Additionally, I require a host of the light to take my experiments further."

Zexion yawned lazily. "Was the long-winded explanation necessary?"

"It was exposition for the reader's sake."

"Stop breaking the fourth wall."

"Make me."

Reaching into his cloak pocket, Zexion produced a black card which bore the visage of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. A light squeeze on the card, and the Heartless had appeared himself.

"Here, take this." The bookworm instructed, creating an illusionary double of the black card. "It's a fragment of Ansem's Soul Card. As long as you have it, he'll have to obey your orders."

Ansem was plenty steamed at this. "It's not enough that you rob me of my dignity by making me _your_ personal errand boy, but now you're renting me out!"

"Hey, finders keepers. I can do what I want with you."

"You didn't find me at all! You stole me from the dressy-wearing pansy boy!"

"Eh, same difference."

DiZ chuckled. "An actual intelligent servant, hm? Fine then, "Ansem", you shall be my assistant henceforth. But there is still the matter of a light-host."

Zexion sighed for the umpteenth time that morning. "I'll go get you one."

A moment later, he had stepped back onto the beach through the Magic Door, and plucked up a rock. "Hey Sora."

Sora, hearing his name called, looked up and stared at Zexion. "Yeah?"

"Play with this." The schemer instructed, pelting Sora in the head with the object. Sora hit the ground, unconscious. Larxene pointed and laughed, before proceeding to pile drive Naminé into the chocolate pit.

Zexion then dragged Sora's limp body back through the door, into DiZ's office.

* * *

Magic ~ Heathen ~ Game

* * *

Deep within the ancient temple, the troop of explorers had made it past the illusory barrier through virtue of Zexion's spell. They walked carefully down a long, straight hallway, carrying torches and wondering when the path would end.

"If Roxas were here," Xigbar spoke up in the silence, "he'd probably make a lame joke about how this long path should be called heterosexual, and not straight."

"Because that would be politically correct." Vexen added, carrying a block of ice which he shined a small flashlight through to create refractions, not wishing to carry a fire-bearing torch. He had bitched about it for a solid hour after entering the temple before he came up with the ice block idea.

Lexaeus grunted, signaling them to become silent as he gestured at a small room which could be seen ahead. The four explorers made their way in, and on the far end of the mostly barren walls was a large alter of sorts, with several odd, rectangular depressions in it, as though to place an object.

"Welcome to the Chamber of Resurrection." A voice echoed through the moderately-sized room, and the four all turned in various directions, until a cloaked figure could be spotted. He wore the same outfits they wore, and yet his voice and height were both unrecognizable factors to the four Organization seniors. His face was obscured by his hood, further casting his identity into doubt. "I'm glad you were all able to find your way here, though I am a bit disappointed by the small number of you. A shame, really."

Xigbar wasted no time in calling his guns to him, taking cautious aim. "Yeah? And who're you, bucko?"

The man considered the Freeshooter for a moment. "That is an interesting question to answer. But I assume you are merely looking for a name. In that case, I do not really have one to give you."

"No name?" Vexen asked, an inquisitive look on his face. "Odd. Most individuals invent a name for themselves. It's a focal part of determining identity. Lack of a name often translates to a lack of motivation. And yet you are here, and clearly with purpose. Have you no motivation? Have you truly no name?"

"If it'll shut up your rambling, I suppose I can give you _something_. If you must have a name of me, you may call me… Zero. Yes, that will work nicely."

Xaldin smirked, brandishing his pimp cane and transforming it into a lance. "Zero? Are you attempting to precede us by such a choice of moniker?"

"How very astute of you, Three." Zero chuckled, an empty sound. "But now that we've dispensed with the formalities, perhaps I should inform you of the purpose of this chamber?"

The four men did not show any signs of dropping their guards, but seemed to be listening.

"This chamber, as its name might suggest, is where one might come to return an individual to life. You'd be surprised how easy it is to do so – so long as you've managed to procure an item containing that individual's soul, you can place it here on the alter, and just like that, life anew. Of course, it only works once for any person. The fates are rather stingy about giving out return chances for life."

Vexen scoffed. "Please. You expect me to believe such a fabled thing could be true? It is not possible for one to simply return to life through an outlandish alter of hocus pocus properties. Furthermore, a soul cannot be contained in any vessel that is not innately human."

This only caused the man to laugh. "Interesting that you claim such a thing when you study the metaphysical field of hearts, have access to sorcery, and have even witnessed that witch of yours utilize heathen magic. But if you require a demonstration…"

And in the blink of an eye, he was behind Xaldin, and his hand had impaled the Lancer into his back, right out through his chest. Held between his thumb and forefinger was a black card, bearing Xaldin's image upon it. And then, just as quickly, the man was once again out of reach.

Xaldin doubled over, clutching at his chest, avid shock decorating his features. However, after a moment or two had passed, he stood again, feeling more or less unharmed, and with no visible wound on his chest. "What is this madness?"

"This," Zero announced, showing off the black card to the four seniors, "is a Soul Card. It is an object, inhuman in nature, which can house the soul of an individual. In this case, this card is holding the soul of Xaldin within it. As long as the card remains unharmed, however, there is no danger to Xaldin, and it is as though he hasn't lost a thing." He explained, a smile in his voice. "But essentially, my possessing it leaves him at my mercy as a result. One of your rank has already discovered the means of utilizing such a fascinating tool, but has yet to share this knowledge with any of you."

Xaldin appeared to be outraged by the man's claims, and the other three looked upon him with disbelief.

"What's the matter, still don't believe me? Well, then allow me to demonstrate my claims further." The man regarded them coolly, tucking Xaldin's card away and producing a new one. This card was emblazoned with the image of a very familiar mop of pink hair, and a serene expression.

"Marluxia?" Lexaeus asked, confused.

Without bothering to spend any more time on explanations, the cloaked man stepped over to the alter and casually placed the card onto the surface, into one of the rectangular depressions. Immediately the alter lit up in a flare of energy, forcing the present individuals to shield their gazes from the blinding rays.

Moments passed, and when finally the light had subsided, the cloaked man was no more. However, standing before the alter, opening his eyes in a daze, was the Graceful Assassin, Marluxia.

"Marluxia!" Vexen squawked, rather awed. "How is this possible! You should have faded into the shadows!"

Marluxia seemed to be coming to his senses as he stared down at his hands. "I'm alive?" he muttered, mostly to himself. Then a broad grin broke out onto his face, he did a dance, applied some mascara, swung his hips, and brought an index finger to his lips, winking one eye. "Hell yeah, girlfriend, I'm alive!"

However, he then became very serious again, known in this form as Marluxious. His brow furrowed. "I do not know why I have returned to the living, but my soul has been trying to reach you all for some time. I have some rather pressing news about Xemnas." He informed grimly.

Xigbar seemed to be taking this whole revival business in stride, while Vexen was still gawking and Lexaeus was still blinking. Xaldin was more concerned with his apparent lack of a soul. Also, he had lost purchase of his pimp cane, somehow. Most disconcerting…

"What about Xemnas, Mar?" Xigbar asked, always seeming to forget the rest of Marluxia's name, despite knowing him for years.

Marluxious looked around, noting the odd presence he felt in the room. "Perhaps we should discuss this elsewhere."

* * *

Mystery ~ Gold ~ Replica

* * *

Zero stood in a remote area of the island, staring down at Xaldin's Soul Card, held gently in his hand. Beneath the shade of his hood, he smirked to himself. "That was simply too easy. Even for me." He laughed, flexing his fingers loosely and watching them go alight with a strange, bluish glow. "It won't be so easy the next time, I'm sure. They'll be suspecting it. But the first step has been completed. And now, may the pieces fall where they will."

He then looked up and to his left, at a small, simple door, standing in the sand...


	4. Abeyance

**Warnings: The same ones that have been in all of these things.  
**

**Pairings: Established Roxas/Namine, as-of-now Established Sora/Kairi, Implied One-Sided (Possibly Non-Consensual) Axel/Saix, innuendo all over the place.  
**

**Unravel the Heart**

**Chapter 3: Abeyance**

**

* * *

**

Tintinnabulum ~ Phantasmagoria ~ Fabrication

* * *

DiZ watched with ample amusement as Sora's body convulsed repeatedly under the ministrations of electrical impulses rushing through his body. The boy was currently unconscious, strapped to a work table, with various machines frying him every few seconds. Ansem, standing nearby, yawned and looked on with irritation.

"Exactly what is this accomplishi-"

"Shhhhhh." DiZ cut him off, staring transfixed at the Keyblader. "I am sciencing."

Ansem glared, his irritation only growing. _Well I suppose it could be worse._ The Heartless carefully considered his situation, noting that he wasn't currently being used for any demeaning tasks at the moment, and that perhaps he should be grateful for DiZ's current preoccupation. It gave him more time to consider his own fate and possibly an escape attempt. But still, that wasn't easy to orchestrate, what with two people now possessing the means to command him…

At that moment, the door to the laboratory suddenly swung open, and a man dressed in robes of black stepped into the room. Ansem's first thought was to assume it was one of the Organization, but that thought was quelled immediately – only Zexion was allowed here, and he wasn't that tall.

The man seemed to pay Ansem no attention as he stepped over to DiZ, staring down at Sora in what might have been a quizzical manner had his face not been concealed by his hood.

"…Should I bother asking?"

"I would advise against it." DiZ replied, munching thoughtfully on a carrot he had for some reason.

The black-clad man merely sighed. "The first phase is complete. Marluxia lives."

This caused a smirk to appear on DiZ's face. "Excellent. That should spur Xemnas into action. Which means…" He then turned to Ansem, glaring with his visible eye. "You there. Venture into the Realm of Darkness and observe all changes. I want you to report such changes back to me. And if you could fetch my dry-cleaning, that would also be lovely."

"Could he pick up mine too? I'm in need of a change of robes."

"Ah yes. Be a dear and pick up Zero's dry-cleaning as well."

"I use Stan Moogle's Cleaner, in Twilight Town."

"And I use the Tonberry Haberdasher & Drycleaner, in Radiant Garden."

"While you're out, why don't you get us some CHICKUN as well?"

"My dog is in need of a change of food as well. His current brand won't stop making him throw up. Get the Premium Blend."

"My hair is getting pretty dried in the heat out there. Frizzy. Fetch me some moisturizing shampoo."

"Oh, thank you for reminding me, Zero. We're out of bath soaps. Please pick up some of those too."

"Oh you know what? We're also out of Lemon Pledge. Get some Lemon Pledge."

"Oh my, whatever would we do without Lemon Pledge? I can't work in a lab that isn't lemony fresh. Oh, that reminds me, we could also use some wood varnish."

"I was thinking of building a new counter for the kitchen. There isn't enough to lean on. So as long as you're getting some wood varnish, go ahead and pick up some timber from the House Depart., so we can build that. I'll probably have you do it, though."

"Well if we're going to build a new counter, why not just build a whole new extension? You know what, Ansem, go ahead and fetch a large amount of timber, as well as some tools and an architect."

"All that work is bound to make us hungry. CHICKUN won't cut it. Go and pick up some Delicious Steak as well."

"Yes. So, off you go."

Ansem stared at the two of them with his mouth hanging open, disbelief written all over his face. As he continued to stare, with DiZ and the other man, Zero, not making any indication that they were kidding, he finally nodded, slowly, before turning around and silently departing through a Corridor of Darkness.

As soon as he was gone, the two men burst into a fit of giggles.

However, after a moment, both calmed down and regained a more serious disposition. "I've done as you asked." Zero addressed the red-garbed scientist. "I expect you're prepared for the next phase of action?"

DiZ nodded. "Indeed. My research on the boy is nearly concluded. As soon as I am through, we can begin with the next step."

DiZ's machines seemed to stop torturing Sora for a moment, the Keyblade Wielder merely laying limply on the work table as several nearby computers buzzed and whirred, collecting various snippets of data.

"I suppose you're going to return him?" Zero asked flatly, apparently disinterested.

"At this point, it would be best to throw suspicion away from us. Zexion will be along to collect the boy later; I will have to return him in order to fulfill that end. You'll also want to be gone at this time. It is best that he not know of your connection to this. That man is far too clever for his own good."

Beneath the shade of his hood, Zero merely smirked. "I suppose that may be true. But it won't matter in the end."

The scientist chuckled in response. "And what, pray tell, do you have in mind?"

"It wouldn't be any fun to spoil the surprise, now would it?"

* * *

MemorY

* * *

Night had fallen on the small campsite. The stranded collection of individuals all circled around a happy little campfire, courtesy of Axel, each lost in thought as they considered what Marluxia had told them.

Most, of course, had been shocked to see the Graceful Assassin walking among them once again. Demyx in particular had freaked right the fuck out, screaming and waling about how Marluxia was totally dead and could never come back. The Melodious Nocturne had then thrown himself into the comforting bosom of his drugs.

But after everyone had gotten used to the idea of Marluxia being alive again, they had listened to the story leading up to his resurrection (as told by Xigbar), as well as the troubling news of Xaldin's soul having apparently been stolen. More troubling still was the news Marluxia had shared with them all regarding Xemnas.

"So he isn't interested in just getting his heart back. He's trying to become some kind of ultimate overlord, and Sora has been willingly helping him do it?" Xaldin had asked, appearing rather disconcerted by the news, as well as the fact that he had still not managed to reclaim purchase of his Pimp Cane. Now where the devil did he leave that infernal object…

Marluxia had explained everything to the group, who now sat deep in thought, trying to determine the best course of action.

"Hey, has anyone seen Sora?" Kairi's voice cut across their thoughts. "I mean, I'm pretty sure he'd want to know all of this, and he's not even here. Man, how did I not notice that sooner?" she asked, now seemingly talking to herself and chuckling. "Man, Kairi, you sure are a fuckup sometimes. Hohoho, what I am I going to do with myself?"

"She does have a point." Lexaeus noted, ignoring her odd behavior. "I haven't seen Sora since we returned from the Temple."

"Didn't you pelt him in the head with a rock or something?" Larxene asked, looking at Zexion. However, her expression told everyone that she didn't really care at all. She was more preoccupied with eating her precious CHICKUN, which she still refused to share with anyone.

"Yes, I did." Zexion replied casually, still lounging on a beach chair of Lexicon pages. "But then he wandered off. I haven't seen him."

"Well, shouldn't we go looking for him?" Naminé asked, appearing concerned, but also ravenous as she eyed Larxene's CHICKUN.

"No. There's no need." The schemer answered again, waving a non-committal hand. "He's right here, see?"

Abruptly, a door appeared in midair, facing the ground and opening wide. Sora then fell unceremoniously out of it and landed in a heap on the ground. The door then closed and disappeared.

Sora got up a few seconds later, scratching the back of his head. "Hey guys, what's up?"

Nobody seemed to see anything wrong with any of this and resumed their conversation as normal, filling in the blanks for Sora, who was apparently unaware that he had been absent. The glaring plot holes then dared the reader to say something about it, licking knives and grinning crazily in a threatening fashion.

"Our course of action seems obvious." Xaldin announced after the group had been engaged in conversation regarding Xemnas for some time. "We all desire our hearts to return to humanity, yes?"

The collection of Nobodies all nodded (except for Larxene), all of them choosing to ignore that Xaldin was obviously lying through his teeth as to why _he _wanted a heart.

"And Xemnas seeks to abuse this arrangement with Sora, possibly cheating all of us out of our own hearts. It would also be a generally bad thing if he were to succeed in whatever goal he intends to reach." The lancer calmly explained as his dreadlocks were all rather busy around him, grabbing a tea pot and cup and pouring a spot of tea for him. Another lock proceeded to procure some sugar, two lumps, and another grabbed a spoon, stirring it up. Finally, the lock holding the cup raised the porcelain object to the dragoon's lips, allowing him to sip at it (but not before another lock waved at some steam to cool the hot fluid off, another grabbing a small dish to rest the cup upon). "Delightful." Xaldin muttered after taking a sip, giving one of his locks a scratch.

"So uh… what are you getting at?" Axel asked, trying to pretend he wasn't weirded out by the display.

"Well clearly," Xaldin continued, taking another sip before holding up his hand, signaling the lock to stop offering more and set the cup down, which it dutifully followed. "We must kill Xemnas."

"YEEESSSSS!" Sora screeched in glee, jumping up and doing a little jig. "I GET TO KILL SOMEONE. I GET TO FUCKING KILL SOMEONE. LET'S KILL THAT DOUCHEBAG. LET'S FUCKING END HIM."

Kairi stared blankly at Sora. Everyone else seemed to follow her example.

"What?" Sora asked. "Xemnas is an asshole, right? So we should do what Xaldin said and kill him. For like, the good of everyone, and junk."

They continued to stare.

"Yeah, and… truth and love and…."

Staaaaaaare.

"…and friendship and… stuff… and…"

Their eyes were getting tired from all that staring.

"Okay, I just want an excuse to kill someone! Happy?" Sora shouted, his teenaged bloodlust overflowing in an obvious manner.

Zexion broke the silence by chuckling. He then muttered a quiet "Yes."

"Well, I may not want to do it simply for the sake of killing someone, but I kinda agree. We should probably kill him." Kairi agreed hesitantly.

"Hey, I may not be a murderer, but I'm with Sora." Roxas spoke up, standing from his seated position and addressing the crowd. "If Xemnas is being an evil asshole, we should kill him."

The remaining members all tossed in their obligatory two cents, eager to prove that they weren't just side characters. The cliché then invited the reader to try and identify who said what.

"I agree. That bitch is gonna get magically fucked up!"

"Whatever. You losers are all probably gonna fuck up and I'm gonna have to do all the work."

"If it must be done…"

"Let's do this, girlfriends!"

"As if I'd miss out on a rumble like this."

"Maaaaan…. My hands are huuuuuuge."

"Excellent, then we're all agreed."

"Hey I'm all for it. Xemnas can go fuck himself. 'Bout time I got revenge on him for being an asshole in the past anyway."

"This could yield some rather interesting finds… science!"

"This doesn't quite sit well with me. But fine."

"Hmhmhmhm. Yes."

Sora looked around the collection of individuals and grinned. "Well, now that we have the obligatory bullcrap out of the way, shouldn't we also be talking about that guy? The one who brought Marluxia back?"

Marluxia snapped his fingers. "Oh right. I forgot about him."

"How do you fucking forget about the guy who apparently brought you back to life and stole Xaldin's soul?" Larxene asked incredulously.

Marluxia shrugged. "I was too busy thinking about Xemnas."

Axel snickered.

"But yeah," Naminé interjected. "That guy… you said he called himself Zero? He seems like something else we should be paying attention to. I mean, how many people can steal somebody else's soul? And shouldn't we be a little worried about Xaldin considering that?"

Xaldin, however, had at that moment managed to reclaim purchase of his Pimp Cane. He then proceeded to don a purple hat with a feather in it, as well as a spotted purple coat. "There is no need to worry about me. I have procured my effects."

Naminé shook her head at the abstract stupidity that was present here.

"In any case," Vexen interrupted, fingers massaging the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "We first encountered this Zero fellow in that temple. I propose a return trip in order to further investigate. We may find clues as to where we are, how to leave, and most importantly, who this man is. The matter of dealing with Xemnas cannot be resolved, after all, unless we get off this island."

For once, Vexen had said something reasonable without bitching. Xigbar was impressed.

"Very well then. We'll set out for the temple tomorrow, after some rest." Xaldin decided for the group before dropping to the ground, abruptly falling asleep.

The rest of the group all seemed to come to a sort of consensus on this, and followed the man's example.

* * *

EmeralD

* * *

As had been decided upon, several members of the group had set out early the next morning to investigate the temple further; Larxene, as expected, stayed behind again, not interested in pursuing an unnecessary amount of effort. Keeping her company at the campsite were Zexion, who was equally as lazy; Saïx, who intended to keep watch on the site; and Naminé, who stayed behind with the sole intent of bitching at Larxene for being so unhelpful all the time.

Having already carved a path through the dense jungle on prior visits, the road to the temple was quite free of hindrance this time around, allowing the large troupe to make their way across the jungle floor with relative ease. Xaldin, of course, still led the group, dressed up once again in his safari outfit, intent on being the paragon of manliness.

After a rather uneventful and uninteresting trip through the jungle and into the temple, the group now found themselves in the Room of Resurrection – apparently the dead end of the temple.

"So is this it?" Sora asked. "There's gotta be more in here. This temple is huge! There's no way it's just a hallway and this room."

Lexaeus took this as his cue to punch the shit out of the nearest wall in an effort to find more. Strangely enough, an avalanche of candy fell out of the busted wall. Lexaeus raised an eyebrow at this.

"Candy?"

"Yes," a voice echoed through the large, echo-prone room. "Candy."

Leaning casually against the far wall of the cavernous space, Zero regarded the collection of explorers with little care. "This temple is full of it. The society who built it was rather obsessed with the stuff. They really only needed to build this room, so they had nothing else to fill the rest of the temple with. I suppose it was laziness."

"O…kay." Roxas appeared confused, before he suddenly remembered why they were there. Immediately, he called his Serendipitous Two to him, standing at the ready to engage the man. The rest of the group all called their weapons as well, prepared this time to prevent another soul-snatching. "Give back Xaldin's soul!" Roxas demanded.

"Is that all?" Zero asked. "No epic speech, no demands for information?"

"I'm sure demanding Xaldin's soul should suffice." Vexen added. "But if you would be so kind as to return it, I will happily demand information of you."

Zero chuckled. "I assumed you'd want to question me. That's why I came here. I thought I'd do you all a favor and spare you the effort of looking for me. Aren't I nice?"

Marluxia stepped forward, his scythe pointed forward dangerously as he switched personalities to Marluxious, the serious, no-nonsense mother fucker. "You're hopelessly outnumbered. Return Xaldin's soul and tell us what we want to know."

"Oh no! Please don't hurt me!" Zero mock pleaded, laughing to himself. "And what, pray tell, would you like to know?"

"Let's start with your identity."

"Oh? I thought a name was good enough for you people."

A Gun Arrow was launched with sudden speed, landing mere centimeters away from Zero's foot. Xigbar leered. "Warning shot, bucko. There aren't gonna be any more of those."

"Oh my, how terrible. And exactly what do you intend to do with me should I opt not to cooperate?"

Marluxia sighed. In the blink of an eye, he was suddenly behind the man in a flurry of petals, his Scythe positioned dangerously at the cloaked man's throat. "I would cut back on the snark if I were you." He cooed, using his free hand to reach up and lower his prey's hood, intent on removing the man's ambiguity.

Zero stood smiling, a man of pale complexion and light brown hair, which ran down the nape of his neck, not long in the back, but not short either. In the front, he wore his hair in a manner similar to a certain schemer – it fell in a moppy curtain, obscuring his right eye from view. Unlike Zexion's, however, it did not hang limply, nor did it move much. It simply stayed put, thick and unmoving, as if the man had intentionally stuck his hair in that fashion to forever hide his eye, obviously so that he could look emo or mysterious. Or both.

He opened his visible eye, a light gray color, and turned slightly to regard Marluxia, a smirk still on his face. "Satisfied?"

Marluxia was prepared to answer, but was cut off in mid thought by the sight he witnessed before him. Zero carelessly turned away from the assassin, stepping forward right into the blade of the scythe. Instead of the expected gory result, however, the object passed right through him as he continued to move forward, no longer within the range of Marluxia's weapon.

"I know you were hoping to threaten me with your antics, but you'll find I could honestly care less about anything you can do."

And then without warning, he lunged forward, Roxas firmly in his sights. In both of Zero's hands, a pair of Keyblades manifested into place. The shock was clearly visible on Roxas's face as he clumsily raised his own Keyblade to block the incoming assault in a clang of enchanted metal on metal.

"A Keyblade?" Sora exclaimed in disbelief, before deciding to forget about it and help out. He rushed forward, brandishing the Ultima Weapon as he made a beeline for Zero's head.

Zero disconnected himself from his struggle with Roxas and vanished, Sora's Keyblade connecting with empty air. However, Zero was back rather quickly, now behind Sora as he made a swing. The blade was met with the iron shaft of a spear just before it made contact, however, which was quickly joined by a series of other spears, all lunging at Zero.

Zero furrowed his brow in irritation as he stepped back, evading and parrying the thrusts. Xaldin bore down on him moments later, catching up to his autonomous spears and wielding them directly now.

"Hahaha, you would fight me in your condition, Xaldin?" Zero mocked as he blocked another thrust, performing a pirouette to slash away another of the offending objects with one blade, while his other made for Xaldin's chest.

However, its progress was impeded by the presence of a barrier of wind surrounding the lancer's body. Zero's eyebrow shot up for a brief moment as the wind flew forward, blowing him backwards and against a wall. He was quick to stand again, briefly dusting himself off nonchalantly before disappearing, just before several Gun Arrows and deadly icicles rained down upon the spot he had been standing in.

Vexen grunted in frustration at having missed his mark. "He moves too quickly to gather enough data…" he muttered.

Zero had appeared again near Roxas and Sora, engaging the two Keyblade-wielders in a flurry of dual-wielding badassery, while the both of them parried his blows in a similar show of badassery, engaging him in several pincer attacks which he managed to evade. Never once did his smile falter.

Both boys then executed a show of rapid distancing, warping away with an awesome reaction command as the ground beneath Zero's feet suddenly collapsed, courtesy of a nearby Lexaeus pounding into the ground with his Axe Sword. However, it did not seem to have the desired effect, as Zero remained standing as though nothing had happened, suspended in the empty air.

Xaldin stared for a moment before his eyes narrowed, looking at the man's feet. "Wind?"

"Correct." Zero replied. "And that's not all." He sing-songed, waving a Keyblade. The ground all around him began to rupture, much the same as it had when Lexaeus had attacked.

Xaldin quickly called the wind and floated above the collapsing flooring, raising Kairi up as well (who flailed in surprise at the sudden action). Xigbar and Vexen also both took to hovering in midair, Sora and Roxas following suit with a show of suspended gliding. Marluxia, too, joined the group in a hover.

Lexaeus, Axel, and Demyx, however, fell right through the crumbling floor in surprise, into what looked like a deep, black abyss. Thinking quickly, Lexaeus drove his blade into the wall, sliding a bit before coming to a stop, bracing himself against the wall and holding onto his Axe Sword for support. As Axel fell nearby, he kicked into the wall, causing bits of rock to jut out like platforms, catching the fire-wielder, as well as the flailing Nocturne, who joined Axel moments later.

Above them, still standing in empty space, Zero seemed to have a rather large grin on his face, as if reveling in some amazing joke he had just played. He pointed a Keyblade downward, and a stream of ice erupted from it, coating the walls in subzero temperatures, which seemed to be spreading rapidly.

Before his attack could resume, however, he was forced to take a retreating leap backwards as several blasts of energy were fired at him from floating flowers, as well as more Gun Arrows from the ever-firing Freeshooter. The enigmatic man swung his blades around, deflecting the majority of the projectiles, but was backed against a wall, unable to evade the last flurry of energy bursts.

Marluxia grinned for only a moment before seeing that these bursts passed right through Zero again, much like his scythe had earlier. But unlike before, Zero did seem to be in some kind of pain this time around.

"I think that's quite enough," Zero announced with a small cough.

"Running away again?" Vexen asked, firing more icicles at the man heedlessly.

Zero blew out a breath which seemed to superheat the air around him, melting the incoming projectiles before they could reach him. He then smiled disarmingly at Vexen's surprised expression. "I am a busy man, Four. I do have other things to do besides playing with all of you. And since you all seemed to neglect your opportunity to politely question me, I believe I'll be going. But here is a nice parting gift for you."

And with that, Zero was gone. Mere seconds later, however, a loud screech was heard. Looking up, the assemblage was surprised to see a gigantic spider-like Heartless descending from the high ceiling of the temple, each of its legs braced against a section of the wall in a circular fashion as it rapidly bore down upon them.

"Ah, shit," Xigbar muttered as he opened fire on the creature. "Sora! Get her out of here!" he called, gesturing with his head at Kairi, whom was still suspended in a windy barrier by Xaldin.

Sora stared up ahead for a moment before nodding, turning and gliding up to the girl and taking her into his arms.

"I'm not a fucking damsel, Sora!" Kairi shot at him.

"Quite frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." Sora said, kissing her passionately and suddenly. Kairi then threw her arms around him and returned the kiss in kind as dramatic music played from no discernable source.

"'Bout damn time," Xaldin sighed, firing an Aeroga canon at the beast to slow its descent toward them, eliciting another loud screech from it.

"Seriously." Roxas agreed, firing several blasts of Light at the beast.

Xigbar watched as Sora flew to the exit with Kairi in hand, waiting till the pair was gone. "Alright! Time for a new backdrop!" he called. At the command, space around him began to warp around, blinking in and out of reality until the group of Nobodies were now far above the Heartless, which was now crawling downward into the dark abyss below. The platforms Lexaeus had called had been repositioned as well, with he, Axel and Demyx all standing above the creature now.

Demyx called his sitar then, a look of determination on his face as he strummed out several rapid notes, calling a tidal storm of water to surge down from above onto the screeching Heartless just as it was turning around, attempting to find where its prey had disappeared to. As the water made contact with crushing force, it lost its footing on the walls, slowly sliding down as it made several futile attempts to hold on.

Vexen hovered over to Demyx and aimed a palm at one of the flowing streams of water, emitting a gush of cool air, freezing the stream almost instantly. The ice began to spread to the rest of the water as it surrounded the Heartless, finally freezing the creature solid.

"Leave the wrap-up to me," Axel announced, calling his Chakrams and twirling them dangerously in his hands as they began to wheel faster and faster, collecting huge amounts of heat. "Burn!" he called, launching two giant fireballs down at the frozen creature.

The fire made contact with explosive results, the frozen arachnid exploding into several chunks of ice. Axel grinned at his handiwork, but it disappeared rather quickly when the entire structure around them began to shake dangerously. "What the…?"

Vexen had his jaw set in a rather irritated expression as he glared at Axel. "You idiot! Zero froze all of the walls in this place earlier! Did you forget already?" he squawked.

Axel slammed a palm to his face. "Shit." Now Axel was no fool – he paid attention in his physics class! That's how he knew the sudden temperature change from minus Kelvin, to well over superheated would upset the air molecules around the spider and caused a large explosion. He _was_ however, a bit forgetful of small details. Such as the fact that the entire room was still frozen in minus Kelvin temperatures and his explosion had caused a sudden influx of superheated gas.

"This place is going down!" Xigbar warned. "Get the hell out!"

And the group needed no further warning as the walls of ice began to crack under the pressure of hot gas, collapsing into the open cavern while the Nobodies all made a beeline for the exit in whatever fashion they could manage.

As Lexaeus brought up the rear of the group, launching himself out of the exit and into the open air with a blast of rock, the temple finally finished caving in, falling into a giant pile of rubble and candy.

The exhausted nobodies all crouched on the ground outside, catching their breath as they watched the aftereffects of the cave-in, with the temple continually falling apart. When it was finally reduced to a giant mound of rock and all had gone silent, Sora spoke up.

"What the hell happened?"

"Axel was a dumbass." Xigbar answered.

* * *

Delicious steaK

* * *

"And do you know what else about you makes you a bitch? Your damn flirts! Roxas is my man god damn it, so stop hitting on him!" Naminé shouted. She had spent the last thirty minutes or so regaling Larxene with a list of a thousand reasons that Larxene was a bitch. She was currently on reason number one-hundred and thirty four.

"Uh huh, that's nice Naminé." Larxene responded, soaking up some sunlight. She then let her hand stray over to Naminé's arm, brushing against it. "But isn't this time we could be using to do other things?"

Naminé smacked the woman's hand away. "And that's another one! You keep hitting on me despite how awful you are! Besides, I don't swing that way!"

"I could change your mind~" Larxene replied coolly.

Saïx sat nearby, building a sand castle and trying to tune Naminé out. He had pointed out to her earlier that with all of the bitching she was doing, she was sounding like Vexen, but that hadn't gone well, so he decided to just keep out of it. Glancing over to Zexion, who was peacefully snoozing, he wondered how the schemer managed to be so unbothered by these sorts of things.

Just as he was thinking these thoughts, however, his neck tensed up and his hair stood on end. Something was coming, and he had a sixth sense about it. Immediately he got up and summoned his giant Claymore to him, whirling around and holding it up defensively just in time to block a large, clawed hand.

Staring down at him with hunger on its features was a large Heartless; it's beady, glowing eyes and jagged mouth reminded him the Dark Thorn, the Heartless the Organization had kept some time ago to use on Sora. But this creature was almost pitch black in coloration, with accents of red here and there. It was also thinner than the stocky Dark Thorn, and had several flat tentacles dangling from its head like some sort of hairstyle. A large tongue hung from its gaping, drooling mouth, and a gaping hole in the shape of a heart was present on its chest.

Saïx's eyes narrowed as he realized that this Heartless was a slightly darker-colored version of the variety that had attacked their ship and caused them to be stranded here. Gritting his teeth and letting his wrath flow out of him in a controlled amount, he flung the creature away, righting his position and preparing to engage it in combat.

Naminé and Larxene had apparently stopped bickering long enough to take notice, and were both preparing to fight as well. Zexion was also stirring, looking around as he took note of the situation. Saïx could see what he was looking at; more of the creatures were cropping up all around them, staring with ravenous looks at the four morsels.

"Ugh, these things again! Where do they keep coming from?" Larxene complained.

Zexion stood now, holding his Lexicon at the ready. "They're obviously a new type; they've never appeared before recently. And seeing as they lack emblems, I'll hazard a guess that they're purebloods."

"Possibly an evolution, then." Saïx grunted as he charged forward into a group of three of the creatures, roaring as he swung his Claymore in an eruption of shockwaves, rending the creatures asunder. However, this did not seem to finish them quite as easily as it had for the creatures that had attacked the ship. Wounded but not beat, the Heartless regained their footing and prepared to mount a counterattack.

Larxene was upon them before they could, however, zooming by in a flurry of slices and dices, removing limbs and heads as well. The creatures burst into clouds of dark mist, but there would be no surprises this time; Naminé was ready with several blasts of light, eradicating the darkness before they could multiply, her hand aglow with spells as her other hand held her Heathen Tome open.

Zexion stepped beside her, opening his own tome and preparing to launch some supportive spells as well. "You two tear apart the rabble; we'll clean up." He instructed.

Saïx nodded and let the full might of his cosmic energy flow through him, his hair standing up, his fangs bared, his scar flaying open and his Claymore exploding into a much larger size. He then unleashed himself upon another group of the creatures, Naminé's attacks keeping time with their destruction.

Larxene, meanwhile, split into four clones, each one moving faster than the Heartless mobs could keep track of, slicing them to ribbons as they tried in vain to catch her. Zexion mimicked Naminé's attacks on these creatures, removing them from the Realm of Light before they could reform.

However, the foes were not unintelligent. As the front of their ranks began to dwindle from the attacks of the four powerful Nobodies, they began to fall back and regroup, making it more difficult for Larxene or Saïx to launch themselves into the fray without injury.

Larxene attempted to remedy this through the use of powerful Thundaga spells, which she and her clones launched with electrified gusto. Several crowds of the Heartless roared in pain, but the spells did not seem to cause any actual damage to them, and they made their way forward in offense all the same.

As Larxene began to fall back a bit, one of the beasts at the forefront of the attack launched its tongue outward and wrapped around one of Larxene's clones, dragging her into its mouth and swallowing her whole.

The Savage Nymph balked at this, speeding up as she retreated, her other two clones vanishing. Saïx was too far gone in rage, meanwhile, to commit a retreat, but was still battering through his own crowd of Heartless, oblivious to the slashes and injuries he was sustaining from the crowds he was engaging.

Zexion stepped forward, launching his Lexicon at the crowd pursuing Larxene, successfully drawing several of them into the pages. With their numbers dropped a bit, Larxene nodded and created a total of seven clones, straining her effort to do so for a moment. Knowing she couldn't hold that many for too long, she wasted no time in warping herself and all her doubles into a circular pattern around the remaining Heartless, diving at them from all directions and skewering them silly.

Naminé was quick to follow up her efforts with some Holy spells, putting an end to them. Larxene ignored Naminé's satisfied smirk, instead focusing on calling her clones back to her, leaving only one to accompany her over to Saïx, who was becoming overwhelmed by the numbers he was dealing with.

"God damn it you stupid, berserk dumbass. They're going to kill you, you know." She admonished as she got near, firing several bolts of lighting into their numbers to stun them while Saïx continued to cleave his way through. Zexion turned and aimed his dark tome at them now, releasing the Heartless he had absorbed earlier, launching them like projectiles.

Roaring and screeching, the living missiles landed among the crowd of their fellows in a disorganized heap. Larxene smirked as she and Saïx immediately went to work, cutting the now vulnerable creatures to pieces as Zexion and Naminé banished the aftermath in a storm of light spells.

Finally, the last of the Heartless had been exterminated, and Larxene breathed an irritated sigh. "I'm _supposed_ be on fucking vacation. Who the hell didn't tell these dumbasses that?"

Saïx's berserk aura seemed to subside as his body lost its tension, and he dismissed his Claymore. "If those things are here, they're probably with the others as well."

"You would think so, but no." came the sound of a familiar voice. Turning toward the forest, the four Nobodies could see the rest of their companions coming toward them. Xigbar waved as he approached. "We came through the jungle just at the tail-end of that little spectacle. Nice job handling 'em without us."

Larxene crossed her arms and glared, pursing her lips. "Nice to see you guys are enjoying the vacation, then."

"Bitch, we had no vacation. We saw that Zero guy, and he did a pretty good job of fighting us off with like, no effort." Xigbar explained bitterly. "Guy's something else. But we started to tip the odds on him, so he took off and left us a giant Heartless to deal with."

"Hm. I thought as much." Zexion spoke up, appearing rather pensive. "I detected a foreign scent in your direction. I'm assuming it was Zero, seeing as it wasn't a Heartless."

"You have his scent, boy?" Xaldin asked enthusiastically. "Where is it boy? Point us in the direction."

Zexion began to raise his hand in a manner similar to a blood hound pointing out prey, but stopped himself when he realized how stupid that was. "It really doesn't matter where he is at the moment. We still have to figure out how to get off this island. And preferably before more of those Heartless appear." There was a general murmur of agreement among the group as they pondered their predicament.

"Perhaps I can be of assistance?"

Heads turned in the direction of this new voice, seeing DiZ standing in the sand, an open door behind him. Demyx piped up with an admonishing tone in his voice. "Hey, you told me earlier that you weren't going to help us you asshole!"

"That was before I discovered you could help me." DiZ responded readily.

Xaldin stepped forward, regarding the man wearily. "And what do you want of us? I was to understand you wanted nothing to do with your traitorous former pupils." he inquired, garbing himself in his pimp attire for no adequate reason.

DiZ ignored this. "You are all involved with a man who calls himself Zero, yes? Don't bother answering no, for I am well aware of the truth of that statement. As it turns out, he is becoming quite the thorn in my side as well. I have information that may be useful to all of you. All I ask is that you eliminate him for me."

Xigbar scoffed. "Seems like a pretty no-strings deal, considering that's what we were gonna do in the first place. Not like you at all, old man."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, or so the saying goes. Zero is more my enemy than you lot are." he explained, looking upon them with slight disdain. "If you're setting out to stop him, then I am more than willing to offer my assistance."

"Why is he your enemy?" Sora asked, ever welcoming of new information.

"He is intending to tamper with Kingdom Hearts." DiZ replied to Sora, more warmth in his voice. "He is a Nobody, much like the contemptuous company you keep despite my warning against it. But he is a Nobody unlike any other. I am still attempting to discover exactly what he is. All I know for certain is that he is after Kingdom Hearts, and he is intending to obtain it with these."

The man stepped forward, and in one hand he held a shining, golden card. "This is an artifact which I call a 'Kingdom Card'. I regretfully do not know much about it. However, I am aware that it has a power which resonates with Kingdom Hearts. That man is seeking these cards out, and while I would love to keep this one and study it, I am certain he will come to me sooner or later seeking it. It is safer in your hands."

DiZ then approached Sora and extended his hand, offering the card to him. Sora took it between his forefinger and thumb, gingerly, and looked upon it. The front of it was blank; shining with a silver sheen, save for the foot of the card, which was adorned with the number "00" in golden print. On the back, the card's gold backing shined as if constantly reflecting light, a lighter tinted heart emblazoned on it.

"I would ask this of you." DiZ continued, stepping away. "Go and search the worlds. Seek out the remaining cards. There should be," he paused, turning and staring at the group. "… Thirteen of them, if you'll believe that. Uncanny, really. Zero will be searching for them. You mustn't allow him to obtain them. I will see what I can do to deter him while you all engage in this task. Feel free to try and stop him on your own, though, if you feel you're up to it." He added, looking at Vexen in particular.

He spoke not another word as he walked away, stepping through the door into his lab and closing it, the door disappearing afterward. Seconds later, a Corridor of Darkness sprouted up in its place, awaiting passengers.

"Ah, finally!" Demyx cried happily, running thoughtlessly into it.

Axel shrugged and followed after him, dragging Saïx along. "Axel, we should talk tactics first, and see what everyone is going to do, and…" he was saying as he was dragged through the corridor.

Marluxia gazed at the corridor and then to his remaining companions, looking thoughtful. "Thirteen cards, hm? And Zero is after them in order to seek Kingdom Hearts…? I don't understand. Why did he bring me back to life?"

"Who knows?" Larxene responded. "But I haven't even met the guy and he's pissing me off."

"Clearly we need to organize a search party." Zexion added.

"I volunteer my efforts." Xaldin announced, closing his Pimp Coat dramatically as he prepared to head off. "I will search for cards. Xigbar, I request that you assist me."

"Sure thing. Seems like the sort of thing that's right up my alley." The gunman agreed. "Anyone else?"

"I will search as well." Marluxia said, nodding at them both. "I wish to understand how I play into this man's plans, and I feel like I'll discover my answers by doing so."

"I will return to the Castle," Vexen spoke up, placing a hand on his chin as he considered various things that scientists consider. "That man was capable of wielding each of our elements, as well as Keyblades. Most intriguing. Not to mention we could hardly even touch him. I will not allow that old fool to surpass me – I will be researching this Zero fellow, in order to properly understand him. I'll need feedback on a regular basis from all of you, however, to fuel my data." he explained, assuming he wouldn't be questioned.

Zexion sighed. "Fine. I have his scent. I'll set about tracking him down and seeing what I can find."

"So am I the only one remembering that we still need to worry about Xemnas, too?" Larxene asked condescendingly.

"Xemnas is not an immediate concern." Lexaeus replied. "He does not yet know that we suspect his treachery. But it would be wise if someone could keep an eye on him. I believe I will return to the Castle and do so. What will you do Larxene?"

"I dunno." Larxene replied lazily. "What else needs to be done?"

"What about those Heartless?" Roxas asked. "Those strange new ones? What if they're appearing in other places? The Heartless problem has been pretty tame since Sora beat the shit out of all of us a while back, but if new Heartless are popping up, we should probably look into it."

"That's a good point." the Silent Hero nodded. "I suggest that you, Sora, Kairi, and Naminé start looking into the situation, as you can each utilize the light necessary for extinguishing them. Larxene, perhaps you could accompany them?"

Larxene sighed exasperatedly and picked at her ear with a pinky. "Sure, whatever."

"Here." Zexion said, handing everyone a page from his Lexicon. "We can use those to stay in touch with one another. We'll clearly need to."

The group all grunted and nodded their approval of the idea, taking the pages and tucking them away.

"Well then. Shall we be off?" Xaldin asked. No more words were to be exchanged as they each made their way through the Corridor of Darkness to go their separate ways.

* * *

KingdoM

* * *

DiZ stood in his somber laboratory, observing his computer. Nearby, Zero stood as well, leaning (as usual) against the wall, his hood still down. It was always a wonder that people who wore these cloaks always left their hoods down after they had been removed the first time, but that is another issue.

"This is all going too smoothly." Zero chuckled.

"Indeed it is." DiZ replied, smiling triumphantly. "They're doing all of our work for us."

Zero just continued to smile as his gaze wandered to a tank in the laboratory, where a large, familiar Heartless was in incubation. "The Soul-Snatchers are working out nicely, as well."

"Which reminds me," the scientist wandered over to another monitor, displaying a ruined temple. "I wanted to commend you on your fine work here. You're a rather skilled practitioner of the Xanatos Gambit to predict Axel would destroy the temple the way he did."

"It's all in knowing your opponent." He replied casually. "The Temple served its purpose. The Room of Resurrection is no longer required. The idiots probably don't even realize how much they've screwed themselves by allowing it to be destroyed."

"Just another boon in our favor." DiZ agreed. Finally, he stopped at another monitor, this one displaying an indefinable area of shifting black velvet and dark caverns. And in that black expanse, a bit of white could be seen. "And soon, we'll have another."

* * *

_When Aria of Life comes to an end,_

_There is but one place where Souls may mend_

_Composed with generous whim and grace,_

_Conducted of fair and honest pace,_

_This one new chance one mustn't waste,_

_Where Aria of Life can sing again._

_But Composer's sorrow drench our hearts,_

_This place has now been torn apart,_

_It never now shall be the same,_

_Since Brutish Brutes to this chamber came,_

_And destroyed is it now in open flame,_

_And Aria of Life, Now never Restart._


	5. Countdown

**Warnings: The same ones that have been in all of these things.  
**

**Pairings: Established Roxas/Namine, Established Sora/Kairi, One-Sided (Though reciprocated hate) Larxene/Naminé, Implied One-Sided (Possibly Non-Consensual) Axel/Saix, innuendo all over the place.  
**

**Unravel the Heart**

**Chapter 4: Countdown  
**

**

* * *

**

Essence ~ ecnessE

* * *

Vexen bustled about busily in his not-so-secret laboratory, deep within the bowels of the Castle That Never Was. Of course, as the castle was floating above a pit of Nothingness, it had not initially had any bowels. Vexen had later added them, because he wanted to say that his lab was in the bowels of the castle, and one needed to have bowels in their castle for that. But I digress.

When the members of the Organization (sans Luxord, as no one had seen neither hide nor hair of him since before this whole fiasco began) returned home to the Castle, Xemnas did not seem any different to them compared to how he was before they left. He was just the same, boring, depressing old Xemnas, moping around the castle, trying to stare at the wall until it surrendered to his will (it did), and sighing a lot.

But Marluxia (who had not returned to the Castle, for fear of making Xemnas suspicious) assured them all that it was all just an act. Xemnas was certainly evil as evil could be, and was just trying to lull them into a false state of security so that he could rape them.

Or so Marluxia said.

After the return trip home, the members all went their separate ways, just as had been planned. Xigbar, Xaldin, and Marluxia had all set off to search the worlds for the fabled Kingdom Cards DiZ had spoken of. Lexaeus had stayed behind at the castle to "Keep Xemnas company", but in reality was watching him very closely. Larxene, Saïx, Axel and Demyx had each set out to exterminate those strange new Heartless that had been appearing all over the worlds, just as hypothesized, each of them accompanied by a light-bearer to exterminate them.

Finally, Zexion had wandered off to attempt to spy on Zero, sending information back to Vexen. As for Vexen, he was, as has been stated, in his lab, in the bowels of the castle, furiously performing any experiments his scientific mind could concoct in an effort to deduce what exactly Zero was.

"I don't understand it! All results, inconclusive. All tests, meaningless! All data, yielding nothing! At this rate, we'll be fighting blind!" Vexen bitched loudly, pounding his fist against the control console of one of his computers. Nearby, several lab-coat-clad Nobodies scurried about, mimicking their master by knocking things over in a fit of bitchy rage. "Would you all stop that!" he screeched, causing the Nobodies to screech as well, but they obeyed and stopped knocking things over.

Vexen brought two fingers to the bridge of his nose, massaging gently in an effort to forget his sorrows. "There must be something. Something crucial I am missing. But what?"

Anxiously, he strode over to a nearby work table, where one of Zexion's pages was laid face-up, waiting to be read. Vexen looked it over, checking to see if there was anything new to be seen, scowling irritably when his search proved fruitless. His fingers quickly shot out to an uncapped pen laying nearby, plucking it up and scribbling a near illegible note onto the page in their impatient irritation. A moment later, the scientist slammed the pen back onto the table as he watched his note disappear into the page, leaving it blank once more, before he turned to return to his computers, prepared to engage in what was probably going to be another fruitless hour of research.

* * *

Spider Tower

* * *

Zexion sighed in irritation as he fished through his cloak with a look of bitterness on his face. He was currently seated lazily on the branch of a tree, nearly bowed over with time, enjoying the soft rays of sunlight that cascaded easily from the dimming sky above. Really, this island was a lovely place, once you weren't stranded there anymore. Zexion had discovered with notable interest that after the group had managed to escape its shores days beforehand, there seemed to no longer be any traces of that odd block on the Corridors of Darkness.

Zexion had followed the scent of Zero that he had committed to memory, only to find himself back on these shores, which was more or less unsurprising. He had been apprehensive at first, but it was soon noted that the Corridors of Darkness seemed to be functioning here just fine, leading him to wonder at why no one had been able to call upon them before DiZ's timely rescue.

Putting his distrust of DiZ out of mind, he resumed his half-hearted search, finally pulling a crumpled piece of paper from his cloak and furrowing his brow at the sent that covered it all over. For a moment, he considered tossing it aside and ignoring what was surely a cavalcade of bitchery, but decided against it after remembering what his job here was, and carefully uncrumpled the ball. The parchment seemed to magically straighten and unwrinkled itself as he did so, returning to the proper, clean shape of a freshly torn page from Zexion's great book. As predicted, the Cloaked Schemer found a mess of angry chicken scratch littering the page, making all sorts of demands for information and urging him to hurry in his work, yadda yadda, bitch bitch bitch. After he had finished reading it, the ink proceeded to fade away.

Zexion then pulled an elegant feather quill from one of his sleeves and, very neatly, scrawled a response to Vexen, something along the lines of "It takes time, shut up and stop your bitching.", except with a much more sophisticated choice of rhetoric.

Finished with his reply, his fingers moved to crush the page into a small ball once again, stuffing it away so that he could put it out of mind while he returned to focusing on his task. All around him, several more pages floated about, orbiting in an easy fashion with Zexion as their focal point, like several small planets circling a sun. Each of these pages depicted various images – small cameras, one might say – of winding corridors and overlarge grand halls.

After a good few hours of searching and sniffing when he had first arrived, Zexion had managed to locate where Zero seemed to be staying. Some forgotten, underground castle of unknown make or purpose laced with ton after ton of stonework and lined with torches. It was certainly a primitive affair, nothing Zexion would have expected of some notorious villain. After all, Xemnas had built a Castle of immaculate proportions for the Organization, and they were the best villains evar.

Unfortunately, despite successfully finding the man's residence, and spying on him for several days now with his myriad of Paper spies he had managed to sneak into the Castle, there had been next to nothing that was really learned about the man. All he seemed to do was pace about the halls endlessly, muttering under his breath about nothing, and occasionally indulging in a nice sit. Then he would abruptly leave through a corridor, and return some time later. If the schemer had any inkling as to where he was always departing to, he might be better off in the spying department. But for now, it seemed as though nothing was to be gained from simply watching him.

This, of course, was problematic, what with the Bitchy Academic constantly bothering him every hour for more data. Zexion was beginning to wish he had volunteered for field work instead. "It seems there's only one course of action I can take at this point." He murmured to himself. The only things Zero ever seemed to say were unintelligible mutterings – too low and quiet for Zexion to ever understand them. The only thing to do now was to infiltrate the castle himself and spy on Zero directly, perhaps even follow him to wherever he was always running off to.

Collecting his floating page-monitors, he stood and took a languid stretch, preparing for the unsavory task of exerting effort.

* * *

Xanatos Speed Chess

* * *

"Hurry the fuck up before I slap you."

Naminé rolled her eyes and glared at nothing in particular as she cast a Holy barrage at a mass of black mist that was attempting to reform itself before her. After the flash of devastation, the mist was gone and the girl dropped her rigid posture, closing her tome with a resounding smack before rounding on her partner. "You slap me and I will _end _you." She threatened.

Larxene just laughed, placing a mocking hand on her hip. "Uh-huh. Yeah. No, no, I believe you, really. Those full pouty lips and adorable blue eyes are the most threatening thing I've ever seen."

Naminé just scoffed and turned away from the woman. "Why the hell did I have to get paired with _you_ of all people?" she asked of either Larxene or perhaps fate. Probably fate.

Larxene shrugged. "Sora was probably too scared of me, Roxas wouldn't work with anyone other than Axel or Saïx, and Kairi wanted to pamper Demyx. So that left you stuck with little ol' me."

"There's nothing little about you. Old, maybe." Naminé retorted with a grin as she made to walk away.

However, one does not insult Larxene like that and get off scott free. Naminé very quickly found that her left arm was severed and laying on the floor next to her, crackling with electricity. Her eyes widened in surprise, and then horrific pain as it all came crashing into her a moment later.

"WHAT THE FUCK YOU WHORE BAG BISCUIT QUEEN!" she shouted loudly, frantically jumping around and howling with uncontained misery at the feelings on her left shoulder stump.

Larxene had already put her knives away, however, and was leaning casually against a nearby wall, glancing over her nails. "That's kinda what ends up happening when you call me old. You're lucky you aren't a guy, or I would have castrated you." As she looked up and stared at Naminé, still jumping around in evident distress, she just sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, get a hold of yourself. I know you can fix one severed arm, heathen girl."

Larxene's words seemed to remind Naminé of the black magic she had obtained in some contract with the devil or something (it's never really been made clear where she got that Heathen Tome), and managed to stop her panicked leaping and howling long enough to open the book in her good arm (you know, the one that wasn't cut off) and chant a quick spell. Moments later, her dead, dismembered arm had magically attached itself back onto her amidst some mysterious evil cackling in the distance. It was probably good to ignore that. After all, what was to be afraid of from fine print on a devil contract?

"Ya done? Good. Now come on, we have more of those Heartless to go kill." Larxene ordered, getting up from her lean and walking casually down the streets of Twilight Town, where she and her partner were currently stationed, eliminating those feral Heartless that had been cropping up.

However, Naminé didn't seem quite so prepared to just let Larxene off the hook that easily. She took a rigid stance and opened her tome wide, readying her now-restored arm to cast some evil magic at Larxene. Larxene seemed to sense the impending attack and turned to face her, summoning her knives immediately as she gave Naminé a bemused smile. "Oh? You want to fight me, now?"

"You're the biggest bitch I've ever met. Like, seriously. No one could ever be a bigger bitch than you. Not even bitchy Vexen, with all his incessant bitching, could possibly tip the scales of bitchdom to the point where he outbitched you, for the sheer level of your bitchiness is so intensely bitchy, that if you transformed all that bitchy into a curse word, Satan himself would appear in corporeal form and tell you _never_ to say that word again."

Larxene's face adopted one of mild surprise. Not insult, but maybe a tiny bit of respect. "That was actually a pretty well thought-out run-on insult. Nice work."

"Thanks."

"So, are we gonna fight or something?"

"I would like to, yes."

However, just as the two blond rivals were about to attack one another, a resounding roar filled the air, and their attention was drawn to the rather large and imposing figure of one of the Heartless they had been tasked with exterminating. Except unlike the groups they had been dealing with over the course of the last several days, this particular creature was _enormous_.

"Oh, hey, look at that. That's got to be almost as large as the clock tower, huh?"

"Hm. Maybe. Not sure." Naminé replied thoughtfully, whipping out her sketch pad (which she actually kept inside her Heathen Tome) and quickly making a rough drawing of what she could see of the monster before tucking it away. "So I guess we should probably engage it in some epic battle, right?"

"That seems like the sort of thing one might do in this situation. We can fight later. Or just have sex. Your call."

"I'm not having sex with you."

"Your loss."

* * *

NeEdLeSs ClIfFhAnGeR

* * *

Marluxia stood on an unknown hilltop, in an unknown place, trying to look very mysterious as a well-timed wind blew past him, billowing his hair and causing a really cool, dramatic effect as the camera zoomed in on his face, looking very serious. He was obviously being Marluxious right now. In his hand, nestled gently between his thumb and two foremost fingers, he stared at the Kingdom Card DiZ had offered them, the one identified as the Number 00. Surely, that had to be significant, considering that they were dealing with a man named Zero, but Vexen had, for whatever reason, opted not to pry his nosy little face into it yet.

"Why…" he asked the empty air, staring at the card and pondering his own existence, or non-existence, if you choose to see it that way. "I was a dead man. This Zero… he is an enemy, surely, and yet he resurrected me. He clearly has something in mind for me… but what?" Marluxious lamented his lack of understanding for this convoluted situation he was in, quickly losing track of established facts and canon. "Well know this, Zero. I am not merely some tool for your schemes. I'll ascertain the truth of your purposes, and with my own hands will I bring you retribution."

Finishing his solemn vow to himself, he turned his gaze skyward, just as another convenient wind blew dramatically past him, a dancing spiral of flower petals swirling hither and thither about him and careening into the air in a brilliant, multi-colored whorl, the camera panning to follow their waltz skyward.

"Okay! That's fantastic, Leroy!" Marluxia shouted happily, turning to face the screen. The camera then stopped recording as several members of a film crew began bustling about the set, some stopping to check on Marluxia's makeup, others checking the lighting.

A man wearing a shirt that read "Director" approached him, a pair of headphones thrown over his neck. "You sure? Because we've got enough reel for another take."

"No, no, it's fine honey. Fabulous, even." Marluxia assured him, grinning widely. "Thanks Leroy, you guys are like, the best~!"

Leroy smiled. "Marluxia, baby, you know you always got yo personal film crew to handle yo business." He laughed, pulling the feminine manwoman into a hug.

Marluxia playfully smacked his shoulder, giggling like a schoolgirl. "Oh, stop! So, how much do I owe you for this one?"

Leroy shook his head and smiled. "It's on me, Flower Power. My resurrection gift to you. Good to see you back on yo feet, ya know, after the whole you dying thing."

"Yeah, yeah, that Xemnas is a total betch."

"I'll bet! So if that'll be all, me and the crew are gonna head out. We'll edit the footage and send it to ya later, eh?"

"You got it, Leroy! Oh hey, do you think you'll be important to the story later?"

"Eh, maybe. But I'ma be honest, I'm probably just a minor throwaway character, ya know? Probably gonna go out in some blaze of glory that helps you's guys in some way while simultaneously killing me and the entire film crew off, possibly with the result of you swearing revenge for our lost lives, capiche?"

"Oh, yeah, totally, I totally get you."

"Alright, later baby!"

And with that, Leroy and his film crew left, satisfied at having captured Marluxia's dramatic moment on film, and left the Graceful Assassin to once again ponder to himself.

"Oh, shet. I should like, be looking for the cards and stuff." Marluxia 'tsk'd himself as he shook his head, removing one of his gloves and applying some nail polish he pulled from no discernable location. "I just get so scatter-brained sometimes…"

A moment of polish application later, Marluxia had once again become Marluxious, and was prepared to end this little filler segment and resume his search for more Kingdom Cards.

* * *

Keep It Goin'

* * *

Xigbar had his hands rather full at the moment. Full of guns. Because he was shooting things. Namely, the things he was shooting were little green fish people with harpoons and magical powers, which were surrounding him in swarms, bearing their tiny little teeth and chucking harpoons as if they thought he was some gigantic white whale. Or Cher.

He avoided these harpoons by virtue of his teleporting about the area, but it was beginning to get annoying, dealing with these creatures. Thanks to Vexen's witchcraft, or magic, or voodoo, or whatever (he called it 'Science'), the academic had been able to craft a loose sort of radar, which could track down Kingdom Cards based on the signature of the one they had already obtained. The whole thing reminded Xigbar of this anime he had seen once, about a dragon and a bunch of people with ridiculous hair.

In any case, he and Xaldin had followed a signal to this god-forsaken, nearly-abandoned world that was covered in water. And lurking beneath the water's surface were a myriad of horrible sea creatures, the like of which were often described in science fiction novels, as well as these short, green, fish people, who were now attacking the duo in evident defense. After all, according to the radar, a Kingdom Card was just nearby, and probably inside the glowing, green underwater fortress that the fish people had started pouring out from.

Nearby, Xaldin parried several of the spear blows, surrounded in a spherical wall of air that kept him dry, as well as breathing. Xigbar preferred to just alter the space around him so that he could move freely and have oxygen readily available. "Man, these things seem endless." He complained as he sniped off a good six more of them. "How are we supposed to get at the card if they won't all just die already?"

Xaldin grunted. "We could just press past them, but it may be a tad reckless to leave them alive and behind us."

"Well, how about this, then." Xigbar suggested, cocking a smirk as he joined his guns together, firing several large arrows through a throng of the creatures. "Why don't I just go on ahead past this bunch, and you just watch my back? I can probably get in and out quick enough like that."

Xaldin nodded as several of his dreadlocks brandished an assortment of bladed weaponry they had inexplicably acquired. "That seems like a splendid idea."

Needing no further encouragement, Xigbar proceeded to perform a series of short-distance warps, drawing ever closer to the structure up ahead and passing the army of sea people. Xaldin complimented his unexpected evasive maneuver with a flurry of dance-like movements, capitalizing on his adversaries' confusion by directing his long and short weapons in a concerto of deadly spirals, bifurcating several of the masses of sea men (you may giggle now) and maiming a raft more.

Xigbar found himself within the entryway to the structure soon enough, where more fish men were on their way to provide backup. "Man, these things must multiply like rabbits if they're _still_ coming." he sighed to himself, firing into their numbers casually as he paced down the hallway. "Oh well. I can cut them off here. You buckos are in my territory now." he talked aloud, not knowing or caring if any of them could even understand him, as he rained death upon their numbers, twisting hallways and repositioning corridors to further disorient them. "Now, where are you guys keeping that card…?"

Outside, Xaldin had found that Xigbar was no longer within his line of sight. _Lovely. So long as there's no fear of splashing an ally with friendly fire…_ His lances were called back from their current tasks of skewering enemies, positioning themselves beneath Xaldin while his dreadlocks simultaneously tossed their assortment of knives and other such objects. Xaldin smiled as he realized that their numbers were finally starting to thin, no doubt as a result of Xigbar now being inside. The lancer moved forward, riding upon his lances as if they were some sort of glorified skateboard. The weapons started linking themselves to one another, taking a snake-like shape as the foremost group arranged themselves into a head of sorts, a large ball of air taking shape in the mouth.

"Wear the face of despair." Xaldin instructed of his foes, a satisfied smile on his face as the ball of wind exploded outward into a huge tornado, mingling with the water of the surrounding ocean as it drew its unfortunate victims in like a projectile whirlpool, sweeping the area to ensure that none were left behind. Xaldin allowed his raging underwater storm to linger for a while before finally releasing it, beholding with a satisfied smirk as the now lifeless bodies of his foes were scattered about to the water, floating silently.

To be honest, he and Xigbar were the invaders here. The creatures had every right to attack them. And what's worse, the Nobodies had come to not only invade, but _steal_. And now they were murdering them in mass numbers. Any way you looked at it, Xaldin and Xigbar were being kinda evil.

But hey, what Sora didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

Inside the undersea structure, Xigbar had finished killing off a large number of what was apparently more guards, not able to comprehend that he was already inside in their haste to defend their home. Their numbers finally seemed to stop pouring in after a while, and the Freeshooter released a sigh of relief that he could finally take a breather. Reaching into one of his pockets, he pulled out the card-shaped radar that Vexen had whipped up, noting that it indicated a signal that was rather nearby, although apparently with several physical obstructions blocking the otherwise straightforward path. Xigbar guessed they must be walls.

Not wanting to waste his time navigating hallways, the man simply shrugged his shoulders, tucked the radar away, and focused on the wall in front of him, visualizing all the walls that would lay beyond it, and after this brief moment of focus, the walls were warped about, bent away through spatial manipulation, until Xigbar had a nice, round tunnel to traverse through. With his good eye, he could see a faint glimmer at the end of that tunnel, and chuckled at the idea that these fish men may be seeing the same thing, in a different respect.

It didn't take him long to get through his self-made tunnel, and he soon stood in a large room of octagonal shape. Just ahead of him was a large, transparent, glowing yellow wall. In fact, several of them were present, arranged in a similar octagonal shape around what appeared to be some sort of pedestal. Xigbar couldn't quite make it out, but he didn't have to guess regarding what the pedestal must have contained. Catching his attention secondly was another fish person – one that appeared significantly more demure in comparison to the ones Xigbar had been killing. Its fins were even arranged in a sort of skirt-like fashion, and its head was rather elongated. He guessed it must be female.

She looked up from where she was standing, rather calmly, and stared at Xigbar, her small black eyes never breaking contact with the gunman's single yellow one.

"_Why have you come here?_"

Xigbar was startled to hear the voice, but only momentarily. Zexion had mentioned this sort of thing to him before – telepathic communication. Apparently there were a lot of strange creatures out there who could utilize it to communicate where communication was normally not possible. Like now, for example.

Xigbar stared back at her for a moment before simply shrugging. "I need what you've got there," he explained, pointing behind the walls, which he assumed to be a barrier. "But your guys tried to rough me up about it. Wasn't about to just let 'em."

The fish woman was quiet for a moment, as if trying to absorb the short amount that Xigbar had said, before nodding. "_This is our home, and you, an invader. It was only natural for us to react offensively. Furthermore, the item kept within these barriers is sacred to us._"

Xigbar sighed, shouldering one of his guns as he rested his other gun-bearing hand against his hip. So it was one of _these_ types of things. Figures. "Look, little lady. It doesn't matter to me what that thing means to you. We gotta have it, see? Because if we don't, you can bet that someone else is gonna be along for it instead. And if this guy gets it, something a lot worse than what has happened here already is liable to happen in the future. You got that?"

Again there was a pause. Perhaps she needed time to arrange what he had said into something she could understand, who knew? But after a moment, her small eyes seemed to change somewhat as her shoulders slackened. "_I won't stop you. I couldn't even if I wanted to. But I'll warn you now, it's meaningless to try and take it._" She looked up then, turning behind her to gaze upon the barrier. "_This place is not where those with hearts of darkness may enter. If your heart possesses even a speck of the darkness… this barrier will not yield to you. Nothing you do will change that._"

Xigbar chuckled dryly to himself. How ironic this was. Shaking his head, he didn't bother responding this time as he loped forward, walking right into the barrier without hesitation. As expected, he passed easily through, finding himself on the other end without incident. As he had presumed, the pedestal before him had a small, golden object laying flat down against it. A heart was engraved into it, and as he plucked the item up to view the other side, he could see the same design that decorated the previous card the Organization had obtained, except that this one bore the number "08".

Turning around, he could see the fish girl standing on the opposite side of the barrier, her black eyes wide enough that Xigbar could recognize that they were, in fact, wide, rather than small. She must have been surprised. He stepped back through the barrier and proceeded toward the exit that he had made, when a screech filled the air. Spinning on his heel, he saw the girl running at him, a spear brandished in one hand as she made to stab him with it, a look of desperation (or what Xigbar likened to desperation) present on her features.

Thinking on reaction, the gunner swiftly brought up one of his weapons and pulled the trigger, firing an arrow into the girl's head. The screech died down and she fell back, limp, onto the floor. Xigbar shook his head again, closing his eye. "I try to make it my policy not to kill women or children who don't know how to fight." he muttered, walking over to her and looking upon her now lifeless body. "You shouldn't have snuck up on me, sweet cheeks. I'd feel worse about it, but really…" he held up the card he had just obtained in one hand, releasing a light, bitter laugh. "But I ain't got a heart to feel with."

Tucking the gold object away, he turned to leave. It was time he and Xaldin got out of this place.

* * *

Naïveté

* * *

Vexen grinned in what was surely a pedophilic manner as his eyes swiftly scanned his computers and his fingers drummed away at his keyboards. Yes, yes, yes…! This was a breakthrough, an amazing find, just what he had been looking for!

Zexion had managed to infiltrate the area where Zero was supposedly lurking, using his abilities to hide himself and discreetly follow Zero about. He had then returned his findings to Vexen, such as snippets of monologue, actions, trips, and even a few DNA samples! He had given Vexen precisely what he needed, and through careful analyzation, the Chilly Academic was literally keystrokes away from determining what sort of entity Zero was, and possibly would gain an understanding of what he was after.

A few moments passed, and Vexen seemed to be momentarily stunned at the conclusive results he was seeing before him. "Truly? He was… of course, of course! That makes perfect sense! And that would explain why he needs the cards! Haha! After all, what can such a piteous thing such as he do otherwise?"

"Having fun?"

Vexen's laughs of self-praise and his revelry in his own genius came to a sudden halt at the sound of the voice that echoed through his laboratory. Slowly, he turned to face the intruder, whom he already knew to be. He would not forget that voice. "And what, pray tell, are you doing here?"

The thin – almost emaciated – man did not seem fazed, or bothered at all. He simply regarded Vexen with a lazy lean and that typical smirk he had already come to be known for. His curtain of dark brown hair fell into its typical place, just over his right eye as he seemed to size up the academic. "You and Zexion are both rather brilliant men, did you know that? Between the two of you, you've managed to learn quite a bit from just a little. But you both have your faults, hm? You, for example, are easily blinded by your pride and pre-set ideals. Not to mention you're stubborn and inflexible, and fail to believe someone else could possibly operate on your level."

"Be quiet!" Vexen snapped at him, signaling several of his Nobody servants to surround the intruder. "You have quite the gall coming here, into unfamiliar territory, and thinking you can possibly leave unscathed, you petty _husk_. You are less of a nothing than even we nothings are."

Zero seemed to completely ignore him, however, resuming his monologue as though nothing had happened. "And Zexion, my, what a worthy adversary he could be. But he is plagued by a rather bad habit – he becomes far too short-sighted once he's calculated a victory. He dropped his guard far too easily back when he battled Riku in Castle Oblivion, simply because he outright assumed he had won without waiting for the final result. And today, he dropped his guard far too quickly as well. Just as he was departing, he didn't do the most… admirable job of cleaning up after himself, as he must have assumed I was about to leave. I did have a Corridor open, ready for transport you see, but _just_ before I was prepared to depart, I happened to catch a certain _whiff_. Yes, Zexion must have assumed I'd be gone when he made his exit. So he didn't think I'd notice he was there. But what he seems to have forgotten, or perhaps he was woefully uninformed by his own comrades, is that I can perform the same things he can."

The man finished his speech with a leer at Vexen. The scientists eyes widened in realization as he spun around to face Zero once again, barely summoning his shield in time to block an incoming assault from the man's Keyblade. Behind the struggling duo, the Zero that had been speaking to Vexen vanished without a trace.

"An illusion…" Vexen grunted, trying to break contact with his aggressor.

"Indeed. I can use them just as well as he can, and as such, can recognize them just as easily when they aren't properly cleaned up. That's how I knew he had been spying on me. And that's also how I knew…" he summoned another blade in his free hand, swinging it horizontally. "That he would have sent his information to you."

Vexen pressed forward on his shield, releasing it and letting it float independently as he leaped backward, avoiding the incoming second swing. His shield then pulled back from the contact, floating warily in front of him as he regained his footing. Behind him, his Nobodies were regrouping, their lab coats billowing with prepared ice spells. "It changes nothing! I know what you are, and soon the others will too. You cannot win, you pathetic little disease. Soon you will be scattered back to where you belong."

"Or so you would think. But alas, Zexion is not the sort of mind you are. He won't deduce the same conclusion as you did, even though he has the information. As such, as long as I dispose of _you,_" he smirked, noting the slight look of fear on Vexen's face. "I really have nothing to worry about. I can handle Zexion later, in due time. But for now, think to yourself; you all could barely handle me fighting as a group before. What chance do you think you stand fighting me alone, Four?"

The Academic Nobodies fired their spells then, intent on freezing the man where he stood, but the spells only made contact with a wall of flame, which began to advance toward the group. Behind the wall, Zero only laughed as he leaned forward on one of his Keyblades, resting his chin upon it, while his other hand raised his second blade and pointed it at Vexen's myriad computers. Before the scientist could react to stop him, a blast of electricity was fired through the blade, making contact with the group of machinery and causing a large explosion. The wall of flames also consumed nearby desks and paper items, including the enchanted page Zexion had sent Vexen, detailing the information he had obtained.

"That should handle all the records of what you've found out. So now that just leaves you." Zero stated, standing up straight and preparing both his blades for battle.

Vexen was livid with fury at the destruction his lab was enduring, the data loss he had just suffered, everything he had poured his knowledge over… gritting his teeth, his eyes wide, he waved a hand in a large, arcing motion, causing several augers of ice to appear where the flames stood, stifling them instantly. He then snapped his fingers, shattering the augers and sending several chunks toward Zero while simultaneously releasing several showers of icicles as well.

Zero swung his blades about, coated in flames, to intercept and render the projectiles useless, but was not quite prepared for the surprising physical attack which struck him. Vexen had rushed forward in an uncharacteristically savage move, brandishing his shield and bludgeoning Zero soundly with it. The dual-wielder sustained several blows to his body before opening his arms wide and allowing the next attack to hit, watching pleasantly as it passed right through him, just as several previous attacks had.

Vexen growled under his breath as his shield made contact with the hard ground, the clang resounding about the room. Looking up, he could see Zero preparing to swing down upon him, but the scientist quickly raised his free palm and released a gust of icy wind, freezing the man's arms in mid swing just long enough for Vexen to move away, before the flimsy ice quickly shattered.

Zero made a show of casually dusting off the ice on his coat, as if it were snow from some gentle storm. "So Vexen, you want to try and get physical?" he asked. "Well I'm sorry, but I don't swing that way. Flattered, though." He added, laughing at the increased amount of visible anger adorning the Bitchy Academic's face. "But as for physical combat… allow me to demonstrate how it is truly done." A slightly maniacal tone took Zero's voice at this, as the hair on his head began to rise. "Did you know, Vexen… that it is a full moon tonight?"

Vexen balked in surprise as understanding hit him all too late. Surrounded in an impressive aura, his Keyblades flaring out to twice their original size, a Moon-charged Zero rushed toward him faster than he was quite prepared for. And as he raised his shield up in a last-minute act of defense, he was not at all surprised to find that, without any energy placed into the shield (the scientist was far too surprised to have made a conscious effort at it), it easily shattered beneath the oppressive force of Zero's swing.

The Keyblade crushed through the Frozen Pride, destroying it as if it were a block of ice, and continued its downward warpath, wrapped in a furious glow as it cleaved into Vexen's body. The light ripped into the Nobody's flesh, exposing no blood or innards, but simply an empty chasm. Vexen's body was ripped asunder, and as he began to fade almost instantly, all that was exposed of his insides was an abyss of nothingness, which the darkness greedily swallowed up.

Just before the last of the scientist's thoughts were taken by the darkness, one notion remained clear in his mind.

_Fucking Axel…_

_

* * *

_

Transience

* * *

Lexaeus did not know what to make of what he was now seeing. It was all quite a bit to take in at once. The laboratory was in ruins – all around, objects were on fire, or buzzing with stray electricity, or wrecked beyond recognition, with busted walls and destroyed furniture littering the place. It was also crawling with the Heartless. Among their number was a particularly large one, of the same variety that had been plaguing them for days. He watched in morbid fascination as it looked up at him from its current task, chewing on one of Vexen's Academic Nobodies, slowly, gnashing the slowly-fading body with pearly white fangs that stood out against its vascular, black-colored body.

After staring at Lexaeus for a moment, it ceased its chewing and proceeded to swallow the remainder of the Nobody, turning its full attention on the orange-haired man with its glowing, beady eyes and a long, salivating tongue.

* * *

Loss

* * *

Larxene leaned against the brick wall of a nearby building, in the midst of an alleyway, breathing heavily. Much of her robe was ripped and torn all over, and she had several scrapes and cuts lining her body. Naminé stood nearby, taking deep breaths as well as she clutched her Heathen Tome, her dress also ripped a tad, but not to such a degree as Larxene's.

"Tough little bastards." Larxene commented. "Still didn't stand a chance though."

"Don't be stupid." Naminé reprimanded her, glaring. "We barely got out of that one alive. We _could_ have killed them a little more efficiently if you didn't keep destroying them when I'm not around to exterminate them before they can reform!"

"When I see an enemy, I kill it. It's not my job to make sure you get rid of them."

"But you still need me! And if I don't hit them with the light when they're vulnerable, they'll keep coming back and this sort of thing will keep happening!"

"Would you stop your complaining? We won, god." Larxene was not in the mood for Naminé's lectures; in fact, had she not been a tad worn out from the battle with that giant Heartless, which ended up being a battle with tons of them, she would have stabbed Naminé for her words.

"We won, barely!" Naminé corrected. "But still…" she trailed off, staring at her feet. It wasn't just that Larxene was irresponsible at handling them. They seemed to be getting… stronger. Harder to kill. More deadly. Smarter, even.

However, before she could voice that concern, Larxene had shoved her head into a nearby blender. Because no matter whom you are or where you are, a blender is surely always within short reach.

"Hate to interrupt this little catfight, ladies," came the voice of a rather cocky gunman. "But it's meeting time."

Looking up from her current endeavor in tormenting Naminé, Larxene stared at Xigbar's sudden appearance in the alleyway with a look that clearly said 'Leave me the fuck alone, I'm about to knock this girl unconscious and then rape her maybe.'

Xigbar ignored this look, and returned it with one that said 'As if.'

Some time later, a small group had been assembled in front of the Clock Tower, comprised of the groups who had been sent to dispatch Heartless (Roxas had immediately started doting over Naminé and protecting her from Larxene and her evil, rapey ways), as well as Xigbar, Xaldin, and Lexaeus.

"Well, to start things off, we could not locate Marluxia, and Zexion sent word that he is unable to attend." Xaldin explained, looking rather solemn (although still garbed in Pimp Attire none the less).

Lexaeus mimicked Xaldin's appearance with his tone of voice. "And Vexen cannot be with us because he is no _longer_ with us." This seemed to silence the group. Lexaeus continued. "I arrived at his lab to check on his progress, only to find it destroyed and thrashed, and crawling with Heartless, including one of that variety we've been dealing with. I had to fight it off before fleeing – I could not dispatch it on my own. I warned Xemnas, in an effort to appear loyal of course, but he seemed untroubled, and did not join me in departing. He said he would handle the issue."

"Yep. After that, Lex here tried to get in touch with Vexen, but no go. Zexion says he hasn't heard jack from him either. He even said that the page he left with Vexen for communication was all burned up. So, we can only assume the worst." Xigbar finished the explanation, not looking especially bothered, but definitely not happy.

"So Vexen's… gone?" Demyx asked hesitantly. He frowned, looking uncomfortable by the subject. "W… wait. Couldn't we revive him? At that place? Just like Marluxia."

Saïx shook his head. "Impossible. The temple was destroyed, if I recall correctly. We would also need to have possession of Vexen's Soul Card in order to accomplish such a thing, were the temple still in working order." His icy calm seemed unbreakable, completely undisturbed by this news.

All was silent, as no one really knew what to say. Well, other than Larxene, who had wandered off to sit on the steps of the Clock Tower Station, watching some show on a miniature, portable TV she had somehow procured. "Ha! Stupid fat kid." She laughed, munching on some CHICKUN as she watched.

"…Right. Well, on the plus side," Xigbar went ahead, breaking the silence. "Xaldin and I managed to track down one of the Kingdom Cards. It's the Number 08. I'm gonna go ahead and hold onto it, for now, till we figure out what we're gonna do with them. So counting that 00 one, we've got twelve more still out there."

"How's Xemnas been?" Demyx asked abruptly, looking to Lexaeus.

"No change. He's been his typical self. The only odd behavior was his lack of concern regarding the Heartless in the castle. But then, he may not be aware of how powerful it is."

"Seriously, what _are_ those things?" Axel asked, scratching his head. "They aren't like any other Heartless I've ever seen. And it seems like the more of 'em we kill, the harder they _get_ to kill."

"That's what I was thinking!" Naminé chimed in. "They're getting more powerful! And smarter, and more resilient."

"It's no problem once we get them to dissipate into darkness," Roxas added. "A blast of light will still get rid of them no problem after that. It's just that it's taking longer and getting more harrowing to actually get them to do that."

"More unsettling still," Lexaeus spoke up. "The one I found in Vexen's lab… it was eating one of his Nobodies. Chewing it up, and then swallowing it. And when it looked upon me, I had the uncanny notion that it was planning to make a meal of me as well."

"One of them ate one of my clones back on the island." Larxene called from her seat on the steps, still mostly engrossed in her TV. "Oh, _fuck _that bitch."

"I can't tell if she's mad at a character or is watching a porno…" Sora muttered.

"Aaaanyway," Xigbar 'tsk'd Larxene and Sora and continued. "We need to get a hold of Zexion. He's got the ins with DiZ, who can probably help us figure some of this stuff out. We've still got a lot on our plate."

"Oh, I'll say."

The group was collectively on guard almost immediately. With impeccable timing as always, Zero had appeared, standing on the landing on top of the steps, just above where Larxene was sitting, paying absolutely no attention.

Zero reached into his sleeve, casually producing a black card in his hand, a picture of The Chilly Academic very clear on its front. "But at the very least, you don't need to worry about his incessant bitching anymore."

"You son of a-" Roxas muttered, calling two Keyblades to him and twirling them dangerously.

"I wouldn't do that, Roxas. Fighting me by himself is exactly what got Vexen killed. Besides, with everything going on at this moment, I should honestly be the least of your concerns. After all, isn't there a certain Superior you should all be paying careful attention to? You never know what he's doing when he isn't being watched." The Enigma remarked, chuckling darkly. "He is quite on to you all, though, rest assured. You give him far too little credit. Oh, and by the way, I wouldn't count on getting much help from DiZ. That old-timer is long gone. But his equipment has been very helpful to me. Which reminds me, are you all enjoying playing with the Soul Snatchers?"

Shock was the most obvious collective feature one could see throughout the group as Zero had been speaking. But before any of them could speak, Zero had continued. "The darkness looms ever closer on the horizon. If I were you, I would look into getting that handled… Well, it's been a fun one-sided chat, but I am a busy man, with things to do and cards to find. Ta~"

And with no more words, he was gone, departed through a corridor of Darkness. Larxene had not noticed a thing.

Many thoughts whirled about everyone _else's _heads, but no one knew quite where to begin. That is, not until Naminé suddenly gasped as if a sudden spasm had overtook her, before uttering two words. "Castle Oblivion."

* * *

Oblivion

* * *

"It's almost pitiful how easily they play into your hands."

"Almost? It's entirely too pitiful. I expected more of a challenge from these people. But then, I suppose they are dealing with me, after all."

"Don't grow too arrogant, now. It shall be your downfall if you let it consume you." DiZ spoke solemnly to his partner as he observed the actions of the Organization on a small monitor screen.

"I would warn you to take the same caution." Zero retorted. "In any case, it's all in knowing how to play the game. I've arranged things in a manner such that anything I say can stir them into action, which will inevitably be the action I wish for them to take. Not a single wild card has been played thus far, and the game is rather dull. But I've little cause for worry…" he added as an afterthought, smiling as he thought of another skilled strategist of mental games. "I expect quite a few wild ones to be thrown onto the table soon enough. And then we'll see where this game takes us."

DiZ gave a small grunt of amusement. "Will you still be placing all your chips on the table?"

"High risk, high return. Is there any better way to play?"

"And should you lose your gamble?"

"I can always have a do-over. After all, I'm a bit of a cheater."

The two shared a quiet laugh for a moment, before Zero placed a curled finger against his chin as his face adopted an amused and yet pensive state. "And this all reminds me… We'll need to be finding Luxord, soon enough."

DiZ turned away from the monitors and let his gaze wander to a large chunk of crystal which lay within close reach on a small table. As his eye swept over the glistening, jagged object, he murmured a small agreement. "Yes. Luxord…"

Zero glanced at the crystal. He smiled.


	6. Apple Custard Pie

**Warnings: The same ones that have been in all of these things.  
**

**Pairings: Established Roxas/Namine, Established Sora/Kairi, One-Sided (Though reciprocated hate) Larxene/Naminé, Implied One-Sided (Possibly Non-Consensual) Axel/Saix, innuendo all over the place.  
**

**Unravel the Heart**

**Chapter 5: Apple Custard Pie**

**

* * *

**

Apple ~ Custard ~ Pie

* * *

Naminé was on her knees, Heathen Tome open on the ground as she quickly flipped pages, her eyes busily scanning each new sheet of white with meticulous rapidity before moving on. Roxas was nearby, kneeling behind a large wall of sandbags, laced with barbed wire, a Keyblade held in one hand and a grenade held in the other. Gritting his teeth, he leaped up from his cover, throwing the grenade and firing a few beams of light from his Keyblade. A satisfied smirk could be seen be on his face before he quickly ducked back down.

"How's it coming, Naminé?" he called over to her.

Naminé answered without lifting her eyes from the pages. "I don't know how in the hell he managed to pull this off. The amount of hexes and curses I'm going to need to perform in order to break this barrier is ridiculous! Ohhh, and I even have to start messing with some memories!" she complained, flustered.

From the other side of the wall of defense, black flames suddenly shot by, heating the air above them. Roxas and Naminé both ducked swiftly, the sudden heat burning the skin on their necks. "Well I know this is obviously a delicate, long procedure," Roxas replied, standing as the flames cleared to fire off more bursts of light. "But time is definitely of the essence here!"

A multitude of Soul Snatchers were present before him, all leering and drooling in evident hunger, always moving closer to where Roxas and Naminé lay defended. They were becoming quite hard to thin out with Roxas being the sole offensive player in this area. The rest of their party were all scattered about, hiding behind their own Sandbags which Lexaeus had crafted for everyone, protected by the mystical might of the earth.

The group had done as Zero instructed, much to their own chagrin to be following his advice, and had found that Xemnas was indeed absent from The Castle That Never Was, although the structure itself had been quite severely damaged. Naminé had urged checking Castle Oblivion, having received a strong vibe from it, but upon arrival, they found the place literally swarming with Soul Snatchers.

And to make matters worse, a giant, void-like barrier had been erected around the entire Castle. Naminé would need time to figure out how to break it, and unfortunately, time was one thing they were all beginning to lack as they squared off against these powerful new Heartless. At the very least, though, Lexaeus's magical sandbags had boxed them all in, but that wasn't going to prove very useful if the offensive effort ceased too greatly and they breeched the defense.

And much to The Key of Destiny's annoyance, some of these Soul Snatchers were now demonstrating the ability to breathe _fire_. Axel hadn't been too pleased with that development either, claiming they were ripping on his mad skills.

"I know that time is a factor, Roxas!" Naminé snapped back to him, replying to that thing he said earlier. Remember that? Yeah. "And I am doing the best that I can, but Heathen Magic has a lot of research involved if I don't want to go losing my soul! And before you ask, yes, this is as far as we can get from the barrier without me losing my detection of it. I could probably do this faster if we moved closer, but you're already having a hard time as it is!"

Roxas growled in frustration as he sniped off another of the foul creatures, leaving a rough dozen still making their way toward him. "Freeze!" he called as he spun his blade overhead, releasing a circular shower of ice particles to hail down upon them. The plan was met with marginal success as the creatures began to slow their advancement, roaring in confusion as to why.

Suddenly, a large slab of rock was jammed through one of their heads. Lexaeus had pounced out of seemingly nowhere upon the howling creature, driving his Axe Sword into its face repeatedly and without remorse. It vanished into a cloud of black as he leaped off its body, tackling two more of them in a single lunge and battering them. Roxas was rather dumbfounded at the barbaric display, especially seeing as Lexaeus had opted to wear a loincloth for some reason. He looked like a jungle man or something.

However, he quickly got over it and started blasting light to exterminate the clouds. Wouldn't do to have them reforming. In a matter of moments after the unexpected arrival, Lexaeus had dispatched all the creatures harrying Roxas and Naminé, and proceeded to approach the pair, flexing his pecs in a show-offy fashion.

"Uh, thanks Lex. …Wanna explain…" he looked Lexaeus up and down and gestured vaguely at his appearance. "…_this, _whole… thing?"

Lexaeus shook his mighty head. "No."

"…Kay."

"Naminé, how is the progress going?"

"I dunno. I think the book is saying I have to dress like an actual witch. Like, with the pointy hat and everything."

Lexaeus proceeded to hand her one. Where he had obtained it, and where he had been hiding it shall remain a mysterious mystery.

Naminé accepted this gift with reverent gratitude and placed it firmly upon her head. It was a purple thing adorned with a skull insignia on the side of a red ribbon, which was tied around the cone-like point of the hat. The wide rim was curved upward slightly, and had a small but fashionable-looking rip on the side.

"This should work~" she said happily, waving a hand at herself. Instantly, her white dress also turned purple. She gained a mantle over her shoulders of deep violet, and her legs became wrapped in black and red striped tights. Her white sandals transformed into black boots, with some cool laces on them. She now bore the visage of a complete and total witch, looking pretty sly, and very awesome.

"Naminé, you look hot like that." Roxas very quickly pointed out.

"Shut up Roxas, there will be time for the sexings later. For now, I have a barrier to break!"

Roxas appeared rather dumbfounded at the mention of sexings, but was ignored by Naminé. She hopped over Lexaeus' magical sandbags and leaped onto the large man's back, draping herself over his shoulder. "Full speed ahead Parlyboop! Your mistress must reach the Castle! Show me the strength of a magical gumdrop-power snorybloop!"

Lexaeus whinnied dramatically and charged forward, heading toward the Castle and more of the Soul Snatchers, which were being battled by the remaining members of the party further ahead.

Roxas was mystified by the display.

* * *

Wha~Pshhh

* * *

Xemnas sat in a very solemn, badass fashion on his throne. Deep within the halls of Castle Oblivion, he resided in solitude, a single viewing orb standing before him in his dimly lit room. He watched as his former pawns danced about in front of the castle, battling against the new darklings he had come to command.

Yes, soon. Soon they would walk right into his trap. The curse would be broken, and they would enter the castle, beaten and exhausted, only to face his wrath. And then he would use the very power they needed – the scornful magic of the witch – and he would turn her against them. They would be eradicated, and the Key-bearers would be his slaves. And once his Kingdom Hearts was complete… the worlds would be his.

_You will not succeed._ A voice echoed within his mind. He glared at its presence. For too long now he had been hearing this voice. Far, far too long. Only in his moments of solitude could he indulge it with an answer.

"Be silent."

_I will not. But it matters little. You will not heed my warnings. You will be destroyed._

"Yes, you keep mentioning that. I will be destroyed by the Savage and the Witch, and you will come into being."

_That is correct._

"And despite telling me these apparent "facts", you seem convinced they will happen regardless, even should I be forewarned?"

_I already said you would not heed such warnings. And even if you did, there would be no avoiding it. You are a casualty of destiny. You will be destroyed by them, even if you actively try to avoid it._

"And yet you yourself have admitted that you do not know my personal thoughts. Only that which I say to you. You're awfully certain of yourself considering you have no idea what I am planning."

_Need I repeat myself? It makes no difference. You will fail._

Xemnas only smiled now. "We shall see."

He then rose from his throne and stepped around his viewing globe, heading toward the exit to prepare for his encounter with his aggressors. Pushing the chamber doors open, he emerged into the bright, pure white halls of the Castle. A speck of black caught his notice, leaning casually against a far wall.

"So you have come." He greeted.

Zexion nodded mutely in response. As Xemnas approached him, he took a more appropriate posture, arms crossed over his chest. "I have brought what you asked for."

"Excellent." Xemnas replied, holding out his hand expectantly.

Zexion produced a shining, golden card from within his cloak, the number "07" bright and visible upon it. "I expect this should do the trick?"

A wicked smile curled at Xemnas's lips. "Indeed." In his awaiting palm, a cloud of darkness was conjured forth, taking shape and solidifying into a dark, rectangular object. "And this is for you." He stated, handing the object to the Schemer.

Zexion gingerly took the card from him between two fingers, tucking it away as he handed over the Kingdom Card in turn. "Then our business is complete, yes?"

"You have performed admirably. I am pleased that our partnership can end on professional terms, Number Six. The same will not be said for your former comrades."

"Yes, I'm sure you have a grisly fate cooked up for them and all that." Zexion responded with disinterest as he turned to leave. "It's been a real thrill, Xemnas." He added, this time somewhat sarcastically. A moment later, he was gone.

_And you see. This is why you will fail._

"You simply have no idea, do you?" Xemnas replied. He then continued onward, ready to greet his guests.

* * *

Alakazam

* * *

Naminé stood before the mystical wall that prevented entry into the great, foreboding castle. Behind her, Xaldin was beating back a few more Soul Snatchers with his awesome pimp cane, while Xigbar and Lexaeus were assisting him in manners not so awesome that they deserve specific mention. Everyone else was off still fighting more of them, getting closer and closer to ridding the area of them for good.

For whatever reason, only Larxene stood next to Naminé, apparently having elected to take the position as her bodyguard since Roxas was too busy killing things to do it. It was very weird and backwards that Larxene was doing this while Roxas wasn't. It was as if the roles had been reversed or some crazy shit like that.

"You gonna open this thing or what? I'm getting impatient."

Naminé glared. God, she hated this woman so much. More than words could describe. "I'm going, hold your damn horses."

"Whatever. Just hurry the hell up and do your mahou shoujo bullshit so we can get in there and kick Xemnas's pansy ass."

Naminé rolled her eyes, but took a deep breath regardless. She stared at the barrier before her and with resolution, opened up her Heathen Tome and cried out the magical incantation.

"Bubblegum Ruspa, Ambasezzle! Raspberry, blueberry, alakazizzle! Moon crystal power, justice and love! Curse-breaker power, strength from above! Naminé beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeam! 3" Naminé then placed her hands in a heart shape over her chest and launched a giant pretty pink beam of love and justice at the barrier, causing it to break.

…

Yes. All of that just happened. You are not high, but I might be.

Larxene stared at Naminé with what was possibly the most blank, dumbfounded expression ever to exist in the universe. Ever.

Standing up straight and lowering her hands, Naminé coughed. "Uhm, yes. Well. Shall we go?"

Without waiting for an answer, she stepped forward, heading for the large front doors. Larxene continued to stare, not sure what the hell just happened. Behind her, the fighting had ceased as everyone had finally succeeded in clearing out the Soul Snatchers, and they all made to regroup where Larxene was standing. But it seemed as though not a one of them had seen what Larxene had seen. And if she told them, she just knew no one would fucking believe her.

"Awesome! The barrier is down!" Sora cried happily. "Wait up Naminé!" he yelled after her, running to catch up. Kairi flat-lined her mouth and stared after him in a disapproving fashion for a moment before making to follow him, Roxas close behind.

"You alright, Larxene?" Axel asked, stepping up to the blond woman with a curious look on his face.

Larxene slowly turned to face him, her face still blank. "…Yeah, sure." She responded, walking off without another word.

Axel scratched his head and shrugged. "She is one weird bitch. Seriously."

Nearby, Saïx nodded, while sipping some tea he had for some reason.

Deciding it would be best to avoid further questioning, the motley crew wasted time no further and advanced into the hallways of the Castle, advancing the plot as well. Because you know, this story does have one.

After some uneventful passage through winding hallways (which Naminé assured everyone she knew how to navigate), the party eventually found themselves in a very large, dome-like room.

"Fuck!" Naminé cried loudly, getting everyone's attention. "I think Xemnas rearranged this place somehow! We weren't supposed to arrive here!"

Larxene contemplated beating Naminé over the head with a tire iron for her negligence. "If you were our guide, shouldn't you have been able to check that before we went wandering blindly into this place?"

Naminé glared back. "I'd like to see you do better!"

Larxene smirked. "Gladly."

Much to everyone's surprise, Larxene swiftly stepped forward and kneed Naminé in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her before tossing her across the room carelessly. She then conjured forth a Corridor of Darkness and waved. "Ta ta everyone! I'm going to go and find Xemnas now."

And then she was gone.

Roxas was seething with anger as he ran over to Naminé to check if she was alright. That bitch was awful. Roxas was gonna have to get some thunder-proof armor later and fuck her shit up.

Saïx, meanwhile, sighed. "What is she thinking? She can't handle Xemnas alone. That simpleton is going to get herself killed."

"Her fate is of little concern as of present." A chill ran through most of the present individuals as the deep, resonating voice echoed through the large, white room they were gathered in. Another Corridor appeared, and out from the twisting shadows stepped Xemnas, garbed in robes of melded black and white, a stony, solemn expression adorning his features.

Sora leaped before Roxas and Naminé, who was still crouched on the floor, brandishing the Ultima Weapon as he entered a battle-ready stance. Behind him, Roxas attempted to help Naminé to her feet while the other members of the Organization all readied themselves for combat as well.

"You're pretty stupid Xemnas!" Sora called challengingly. "You're totally outnumbered! And it's not like you're that douchebag, Zero, so that actually means something!"

"Your numbers matter little." Xemnas replied slowly, waving his arms dramatically. "Your petty powers cannot hope to match mine. Behoooooooold." and as he said this, he gestured broadly at the far wall of the room, where a large window had appeared. Outside of this window, a huge, heart-shaped moon cast its eerie glow upon the dark sky.

"Kingdom Hearts!" Axel stared with confusion. "What's it doing here?"

Demyx was quite confused as well, furrowing his brow at the sight. "Shouldn't it be back in The World That Never Was?"

An empty chuckle resonated from within Xemnas. "My Kingdom Hearts… it is nearly complete. Very soon, it shall fill me with its power. For you see… it, and I, have reached an understanding. Kingdom Hearts longs for its completion. It desires the hearts held by the felled Heartless, so that it may cast its glow upon the Darkness. And I desire the power that a heart affords. In exchange for bringing forth the means for its completion, Kingdom Hearts has filled me with its might."

Xemnas's eyes were aglow with false delight as a wicked smile curved at his lips. "Light and Darkness are arbitrary forces. They know not the boundaries of moral limitation. And Nothingness… all is welcome before its hollow void. I will erase you all… and then, I will bring Kingdom Hearts to its completion!" Xemnas announced, finishing his dramatic speech with raised arms as his body began to glow.

"No way…" Sora muttered. "Kingdom Hearts is helping him just because he agreed to finish it?"

"That can't be right…" Kairi, who was standing behind Lexaeus for safety, shook her head. "It would never help someone who wanted to bring harm to the worlds!" With conviction lighting her glare, Kairi waved her arms, summoning a few orbs of Holy energy and launching them at Xemnas. "The light will prove your lies!"

Xemnas stood, unflinching, as the orbs made contact with his body, having absolutely no visible effect. He laughed again. "Your light has done nothing but identify the truth. The Light will not harm me. Not so long as the True Light of Kingdom Hearts remains within."

"Huh. So that's how it is." Xigbar spoke up, drawing the attention of the masses. "All his flowery talk is pretty transparent. Kingdom Hearts isn't cooperating or anything like that. Xemnas is just using all that Nothingness of his to house the light. He doesn't have a heart, so it can't guide him or hurt him."

"Wait, uh… what?" Demyx asked, still confused.

"While we were off minding other matters," Lexaeus replied to him. "Xemnas must have slowly been bringing himself closer and closer to Kingdom Hearts, until finally he could house its Light inside of him."

"Instant exposure to that kind of light would kill a Nobody like us." Xaldin added. "But because he can manipulate Nothingness… he could carve a hollow within himself for the light to reside without harming him."

"And now he's got the defense of Kingdom Hearts, weather it wants him to have it or not."

Xemnas sighed, but the smile did not leave him. "Very good. You do not miss a thing. I suppose that would be expected from my three former colleagues. A shame your numbers have dwindled a bit. Vexen's death must have been a terrible loss. And now you've even lost Zexion." This statement took the others by surprise, and Xemnas capitalized on this moment with an attack. "Vanish!" he called, firing bolts of Nothingness from his hand at Sora.

Sora reacted barely in time to parry the incoming projectiles, but not quickly enough to prevent them from grazing across his skin, opening up cuts where they touched. Roxas hoisted one of Naminé's arms over his shoulder, cursing Larxene under his breath as he made to move away with her. However, Xemnas was very quickly forgetting Sora, flying by overhead to chase the pair of retreating blondes in their moment of vulnerability.

"Freeze!" Sora called, seeing Xemnas's intent and firing a Blizzaga from his Keyblade to intercept him. A red glow erupted from the palm of Xemnas's hand as he twirled in midair, deflecting the attack as the glow formed itself into a solid blade. However, the Superior's vision was quickly obscured as Xigbar had suddenly appeared before him, opening fire without hesitation. Xemnas grunted as he conjured another ethereal blade and swung the two of them in wide arcs to block the incoming projectiles.

As he was occupied with this task, however, a geyser of water sprung forth beneath him, catching him underfoot and rising higher and higher until he was slammed into the high ceiling of the operatic room. This was very quickly followed by a storm of earth and stone, swirling dangerously in a funnel of wind, being flung at the man's present location. The attacks seemed to hit their mark as the slabs of solid matter smashed into the ceiling where Xemnas had been suspended, further driven home by gale-force winds.

Sora saw this opportunity to layer an extra bit of ownage onto the pile, calling out another few Blizzard incantations as the blocks of ice froze the winds and rock in place, binding Xemnas to the ceiling beneath them.

Demyx turned to look at Xaldin. Xaldin looked at Sora. Sora looked at Axel. They all nodded to one another. Shit was about to get so real.

With a few strums from nimble fingers, Demyx created several columns of water all around the room, acting like stationary geysers as they gushed and flowed, waiting for direction. Xaldin happily supplied that direction, sending a lance into each waiting column, surrounded by the wind. As the lances entered, the wind hollowed out the water, turning them into aquatic tunnels as they moved about like tentacles, controlled by Xaldin's mastery of the wind.

Each of the watery tentacles then dove at the frozen mass on the ceiling, plunging their tips into it with the aid of the spears within them. Sora then twirled his blade high overhead, spinning it in a wide circle as he repeatedly muttered "Blizzaga, Aeroga, Blizzaga, Aeroga…", and then finally called out "Ice Fan!"

At the command, a wave of icy wind blew out from the spinning propeller of a Keyblade, freezing all the water in the room. Each of the watery tentacles was now a hollowed out arc of ice, connecting to the central icy tomb where Xemnas was being held. Axel took his cue and smirked, releasing his Chakrams. As he let go, the twin wheels hovered in midair, just beneath his palms, spinning rapidly as a large amount of heat was gathered to them. Living up to his namesake, Axel was soon twirling large wheels of dancing flames, letting the fires grow hotter for just a tad longer.

"Axel!" Lexaeus called. "Do it now! I feel him stirring." The large man had a palm to the ground, feeling the vibrations which reverberated through the room, his eyes trained calmly on the binding place of Xemnas.

Axel nodded and grinned widely. "Burn, baby!" he shouted, spreading his palms out. As he did so, the Chakrams flew forward as if flung by a slingshot, zooming all around the room and making contact with each of the frozen pillars. As they made contact, the superheated flames were released into the hollow, cold cavities of the arcs.

And I'm sure we all remember what happens when frosted air experiences very sudden and rapid temperature acceleration.

A sickening crack was heard throughout all the ice for but a second. And after that second passed, a huge, fiery explosion burst forth from the icy tomb, destroying a large portion of the ceiling. Xaldin cast windy shields, Lexaeus summoned slabs of rock for himself and Kairi, Demyx blanketed himself in a sphere of water, and Sora and Roxas cast reflect spells to repel the oncoming backlash of the explosion. Xigbar casually warped out of the way of any incoming danger, while Saïx simply stood still, apparently untouched by anything.

Shit had just gotten ridiculously real.

When all the debris had finally settled and the danger had cleared, the group of attackers all let down their shields. Lying in the middle of the great, damaged room was Xemnas's body, completely still.

"Ha, fuckin' owned." Axel bragged proudly.

But much to his horror, and everyone else's of course, Xemnas's body began to stir. "How the hell is he still kicking after all that?" Roxas asked in disbelief.

Saïx glared and summoned his claymore. He was going to end this. With calm fury, he sprinted forward, prepared to bring the giant weapon down upon the slowly recovering Superior. The weapon crashed, and a large clang was heard as it smacked soundly against the marble floors. He blinked for a moment before it registered with him that Xemnas was gone.

"Truly amazing. You should all be quite proud of yourselves." Xemnas stood away from the group, leaning against the large window as his right hand clutched at his chest, which was heaving with his heavy breathing.

Saïx picked up his weapon from its missed mark, still slightly puzzled over how Xemnas had managed to move away so quickly, but still none too concerned at his sorry state. "You possess quite a great deal of strength, Xemnas." He addressed his former superior apathetically. "But it was truly arrogant of you to think you could contend with all of us."

Xemnas's dark laughter filled the room once again. "Of course it would have been foolish of me to believe that. Even as I am now, that possibility is not a reality. However…" His eyes rose as he stared across the room, his gaze settling on Naminé, who was now standing on her own two feet finally, having recovered from Larxene's assault. "Facing you all alone is hardly what I had in mind."

* * *

An Armada Guardian Reedy Yipe

* * *

Larxene paced casually through the endless halls of white, whistling to herself and pretending she didn't care about anything. Except she wasn't pretending.

"Seriously, I'm sick of working with those losers. And how did I even get involved in any of this shit? Like I care. I don't really give a fuck if I get my heart back. And Xemnas? Pff, he can do whatever the hell he wants. The only reason I ever started being "good" was because he made me. And now he's all evil? Fine, then I'll just go back to doing whatever I want. Damn."

Larxene clearly enjoyed talking to herself.

"Oh, Larxene, please reconsider."

The woman stopped and turned at the sound of the voice, but immediately shielded her eyes upon turning. A great, bright light was before her, nearly blinding in its radiance. She couldn't make out any distinct shape or form beyond this light, but a voice could be heard from it all the same. "It is true; no vixen is more callous than you, no nymph more savage. But truly, Larxene, it is of the utmost importance for you to maintain the path you have held up until now."

"Who the fuck are you and why should I listen to you?"

"I am merely a friend. A friend who is looking out for your best interests."

"And I guess telling me your name isn't in my best interest?"

"My name is of no importance."

"Of course it isn't. It never is with you enigmatic people, is it?" she replied with an eye roll.

"Larxene, I know that whatever I say will likely have little effect on you – you are very headstrong and do not let others dissuade you easily. It is admirable, but at the same time can be very undesirable. But I will tell you, all the same. The worlds are in desperate need, Larxene. In events to come, their boundaries and fortitudes will be pulled to their limits, and the entirety of all Universes may well cease to exist. If this transpires, all life will cease to exist as well, time will halt, and there will be no hope of a resurrection. This fate can be avoided, however, with your help."

"Seriously?"

"One can be amazed at how much of a difference the actions of one single person can make in a million things. If you simply reconsider your actions and return to the aid of your companions… the future can be saved. But if you are determined to maintain your present course, then you may end up dooming it all."

"No pressure, huh?"

"I know you are skeptical. And you are in no way obligated to believe what I have said. And yet… I know you will make the right decision. Whatever you decide will be what is inevitably fated to occur. I will trust in your judgment, now that you know what is at stake. Just remember, Larxene… the peaceful life you have led in the time of The Organization's truce…"

And then the light faded, and the voice had gone. Larxene was once again alone in the great hallway, blinking the spots out of her vision. "Well shit, how the hell am I supposed to react to tha-"

She stopped mid-sentence as an object caught her attention. A pie sat in the middle of the hallway, steaming and looking pretty delicious. Larxene carefully stepped over to it and picked it up, sniffing it. This was clearly Apple Custard Pie. It had even been pre-sliced for her convenience. She lifted one slice out of the tin and took a bite.

"Holy shit this is delicious…"

* * *

A Shoreline Twirl To…

* * *

Yuffie Kisaragi was a pretty busy girl most days. Usually she was off fighting crime, or solving mysteries, or doing drugs. But today? No, today she was pretty much bored as shit and had nothing to do. All those weird Heartless that had been cropping up recently were pretty much calling it quits apparently, as none of them had appeared in a while.

The development seemed to be favorable for the rest of the Radiant Garden Defense Committee, but it had Yuffie bored stiff. And she didn't have any drugs on her to relieve her of this boredom, either. Signing loudly, she jumped up from her current position – lying lazily on the roof of Merlin's house – and stretched with a yawn, looking out across the small, cozy collection of houses. Why was peace so boring?

"Hey, Yuffie!" a voice called from below.

Yuffie approached the edge of the roof and investigated, seeing Tifa standing at the doorway to Merlin's place, looking up at her. "What's up Tifa?"

"Get down here, we need to talk. Something's come up."

Yuffie smiled in triumph as she leaped off the roof and landed easily in front of Tifa, running past her into the small cottage. Tifa closed the door behind her, turning to follow her over to the computer, where Cid sat.

"So what's up? Something new and exciting?"

Cid spat on the floor in a very disgusting manner. "Shut your god damn mouth, god damn it. We got serious trouble."

Yuffie stuck her tongue out and made an obscene noise. Cid threw a half-empty beer can at her face.

"What's the trouble?" Squall asked, leaning against the wall nearby. Oh yeah, he was calling himself Squall again. Kinda got sick of Leon.

"I just got me a message from the King." Cid replied, cracking open a new can of beer and looking at his screen. "'Parently there's trouble brewin'. He says there's been a lot of activity in the Realm of Darkness, and it ain't just them new Heartless neither." he explained, taking a deep swig.

"Oooooh, is it mission time?" a small, happy voice cried out. Rikku came bounding into the room through the window, looking eager.

"How the hell did you get in here!" Cid asked, enraged. He then punched Rikku in the face for good measure.

"Ow!" she cried, holding her face.

"She doesn't know how to use a door." came a stoic-sounding voice, which was quickly accompanied by Paine entering the room through the front door of the cottage, followed by Yuna.

"What the hell are ya'll doin' here!"

"We were listening in, because that's what Gullwings do!" Rikku cried, still nursing her swollen face.

"And we want to help stop whatever is happening with these Heartless." Yuna added with a serious tone to her voice.

Cid swore loudly and for ten minutes without stopping. "Fine!" he finally said, spitting at the wall. "King Mickey says that we need to investigate the bad juju goin' on in the ROD. Normally issa place where you can't go 'nless your heart is immersed in Darkness. But he says them retarded chipmunks have been making some kinda special Gummi ship that can get in there, and we'll need an expedition crew to pilot it and check things out."

Nearby, Cloud was sitting on the floor, having a pretend tea party with Aerith. "I'll go. I may be forgiven if I do."

Squall looked over. "All you ever talk about is wanting to be forgiven."

Cloud looked back. "You just whine about being alone."

"I'm still cooler than you."

"Fuck you."

"Argue later ladies!" Cid shouted loudly, punching Rikku in the face again for good measure. "I'm sendin' YRP to get them outa my hair!" he shouted.

"Oh, sorry!" Yuna apologized sheepishly, climbing off of her perch on Cid's head and getting out of his hair.

"Alright, fine. We'll take a ship to Disney Castle and get that special Gummi." Paine added, turning and heading for the door. "We'll let you know how it goes." She then pulled out a Dress Sphere and tapped it with her hand, a flash of light illuminating her body for a moment. As the flash cleared, she was now a small pixie-looking version of herself. "Come on." she ordered her comrades as she flew out the door.

Yuna and Rikku (now nursing two shiners on her face) both nodded and took out their own Fairy Dress Spheres, transforming into their pixie selves and flying after Paine.

"God damn fairy bitches…" Cid muttered. He then looked at the remaining group. "We need to get in touch with Sora and see how things are goin' with him. He's probably out fighting them Heartless, knowing him, so he might not be at the islands. So Aerith, why don't you take a ship to Destiny Islands and check for 'im there, in case he is, and Yuffie and Tifa can take another 'un to search the other worlds with."

"Why do I have to go by myself?" Aerith asked, pouting.

"Because you only have to check one world and probably won't have to do any fightin', and because I said so, bitch!"

Aerith shouted back angrily. "I can fight too, you ornery fuck!"

Cid roared and charged across the room, giving Aerith the savage beating of her life for her insolence. Cloud looked away in fear, and everyone else, even Squall, cringed.

"NOW! Are my orders clear!"

Aerith was a blubbering, bloody mess on the floor. "Yeeeeeees." She sobbed.

"Good! Now get in the kitchen and make me some god damn TEA!"

Aerith picked herself up off the floor and ran into the kitchen really fast.

"Now then, Cloud n' Squall, you two is gonna go out and check other worlds for them messed up Heartless and report your findings back to me, got it!"

Cloud nodded very quickly, and Squall gave a careful, uneasy jerk of his head that sufficed as a nod.

"Good. Now all ya'll get the hell outa my sight! And Aerith! WHERE'S MAH DAMN TEA!"

Cloud, Yuffie, Tifa, and Squall all made great haste in getting out of the cottage, not wanting to witness the fate of poor Aerith. Meanwhile, high above them all, standing on top of one of the larger buildings in the area, Sephiroth gazed down upon the proceedings with a smirk.

"It is as he said. How annoying. And yet… this opens a new door."

Sephiroth then sprouted a wing and took to the sky, following Cloud and Squall covertly.

* * *

Madman's Orchestration

* * *

"What are you doing?" Zero asked curiously.

DiZ sat at his work table, fiddling away with what looked like small dolls, bearing the likenesses of some familiar faces. "There is little to do at the moment. So I'm passing the time with a hobby. A visual representation, if you will, of what we have accomplished."

Zero noted that several of these dolls were attached to strings, hanging from them like marionettes above a small, comical-looking wooden stage. Zero did get a small chuckle out of it. "And who are you working on now?"

"The One-Winged Angel." DiZ replied with a smirk, running a needle and thread through a small doll which bore a striking resemblance to Sephiroth. "I recently tipped him off with some information he would find useful. And as predicted, he is now following those citizens of my old city."

"Ah yes. And soon enough, we'll be getting visitors, won't we?"

"Indeed, in large part due to the information you let slip to my old friend the King."

Zero turned away and approached a small window, gazing out upon the endless black expanse. "All this puppeteering is getting a little boring."

DiZ glanced up from his busywork, raising his visible brow at Zero. "Pardon?"

"Don't get me wrong, it's quite nice how completely easy it's been to make everyone move as we plan them to, and it's also been a wonderful stroke to my ego to know that at this point, all outcomes are pointing toward victory. But it's still getting boring just sitting in this Tower all day. As lovely as our new living arrangements are, they aren't exactly exciting."

"I suppose I can understand what you're saying."

"Indeed. And it's not like there are even any more cards for me to obtain – I already have all of the ones I can reach. It's rather tedious sitting here, twiddling my thumbs and waiting for the idiots to find the rest for me."

"Let me hazard a guess. You're planning on leaving to go and interfere a bit, aren't you?"

"I suppose I am." Zero replied standing and opening a Corridor of Darkness with little thought on the matter. "They're too busy dealing with Xemnas to find me my prizes. So I suppose if I… help them along a bit, it will expedite the process and they can get back to searching for my cards."

"Yes, and then we get to the part where you systematically pick them off, of course." DiZ responded airily, not paying too much attention. "Fine, do as you will. Just remember not to do anything that will jeopardize our success. It won't do to have you ruining everything when we've managed to progress this far."

"I know, I know. Just keep playing with your little dolls and leave the rest to me."

Zero then stepped through the corridor and was gone a moment later. DiZ snorted and shook his head.

* * *

Bamani Meen

* * *

Roxas was on the ground, holding his head in pain. His vision was blurry and unfocused as he looked around, trying to see if his comrades were alright. But he was sure they weren't. The last thing he could remember seeing before the onset of pain and disorientation was Xigbar slumped against a wall, not moving, Xaldin heavily injured and bleeding everywhere, and Lexaeus moving in to confront Xemnas alone. He couldn't remember what had happened to Axel and Demyx, or Sora and Kairi, or Saïx either.

He thought he could faintly hear the sounds of battle nearby, but he couldn't think straight. _Naminé, Naminé, Naminé… _He repeated the words over and over again in his mind. Xemnas had… done _something_. Roxas didn't know anymore. But he couldn't seem to know anything right now. Or at least, anything that made sense. His mind was on fire, or at least it felt that way, and nothing would work itself out.

"I'm honestly a little disappointed Roxas. Wasn't the power of love and all that garbage supposed to be stronger than this?" a low voice muttered, and based on the feeling of breath on his ear, Roxas guessed that the owner had to be close, especially for him to be able to hear whoever it was over his screaming thoughts.

"Nnghhhuhh… who…?"

"You won't be any help to talk to like this. Here, hold still."

There was another moment of blinding pain, and then suddenly the world seemed to solidify, things becoming more distinct and easy to recognize. Roxas's vision began to focus as his head cleared up a bit, one hand still clutching at his temples to sooth the mild ache.

"Ugh… what happened?"

Zexion crouched next to him, his expression placid as usual, one hand on his crouched knee and the other on Roxas's back. "I constructed a mental barrier inside your mind. It'll wear off in a short while, unfortunately, but for now you should be shielded from her."

"From… who?" Roxas asked, still trying to recollect everything.

"Who else? Naminé."

The name reminded Roxas of what had happened. Naminé had attacked him. Attacked _them_. She had quickly dispatched Demyx and Axel with a sudden burst of black magic, and when Xigbar had tried to restrain her, Xemnas was there, stabbing the man through the shoulders and flinging him against the wall. He remembered Sora trying to act, but… he couldn't remember. Xaldin had moved in to fight Xemnas but was messed up pretty badly. Roxas was pretty sure Naminé had caused that.

He looked around now, and sure enough, there was Xigbar slumped against that wall, still conscious it seemed but unable to move his arms. Axel was unconscious nearby, or at least Roxas hoped he was just unconscious, and Demyx was crouched next to him, looking worse for ware, as he tried to rouse him. Sora was clear on the other side of the room, just… standing there. Kairi was with him, trying to snap him out of whatever stupor he seemed to be in.

Up ahead, he could see Lexaeus swinging his weapon, trading blows with Xemnas as the two guarded and dodged each other's attacks. Xemnas looked like he was completely healed from whatever damage he had sustained earlier, and was smiling rather triumphantly. Xaldin was face down on the ground some distance away, not moving. He still couldn't see Saïx.

"What happened, Zexion? What did I miss, and where have you been!"

"Calm down and I'll tell you. Xemnas took control of Naminé. She's been using that Heathen Magic too much; her soul has been opened to the Darkness. Xemnas exploited that opening and put all of his darkness into the Barrier that surrounded the castle. When Naminé broke it, all that darkness was sent to her, waiting to be activated. At the same time, removing all of the darkness from his own body is what allowed Xemnas to take on the light of Kingdom Hearts. As he said, Nothingness is an empty cavity. It can be filled by any substance, but not opposing ones."

Roxas was shocked at what he had heard. "He knew we'd need Naminé to get in."

"That's right, and he pulled your strings rather expertly. By controlling her, he turned her magic upon your comrades, and also awakened her latent memory manipulation to put you into a permanent state of mental paralysis, and she seems to have wiped Sora out. I can only hope it's temporary."

"Where is she now!"

"Xemnas sent her to deal with Saïx while he handled a weakened Xaldin and Lexaeus. So Saïx left, to separate her from him. I don't know where they are now."

Roxas stood up now, shaking his head as he glared at Xemnas. "I'll kill him. I'll kill him and I'll free her."

"Sure you will. But let me remind you that you're dealing with a light-infused Xemnas. Not to mention his wounds were healed by Naminé."

"I don't care! I'm gonna kill him!" Roxas shouted, summoning the Serendipitous Two.

Zexion sighed and stepped in front of him. "Would you calm yourself and think rationally for a moment? As you can see, Lexaeus is a skilled fighter. He's holding his own quite nicely, although I doubt he'll win in the long run. If you rush in, blade a-swinging and full of anger, you'll only jeopardize the fight. So alternatively, why don't you watch closely and wait for your opportunity?"

Roxas took a deep breath and attempted to calm himself. He knew Zexion was right. He tended to be right about most things. "Zexion, you still didn't tell me where you have been. Xemnas said you were gone."

"He was obviously trying to mislead you. I've been searching for the cards and staying one step ahead of Zero. With all of you so busy worrying about Xemnas, someone had to pay our actual adversary some attention."

"Oh…" Roxas didn't really know what else to say to that. So he continued to watch as Xemnas and Lexaeus battled. By now, Xemnas was quite aware of the fact that Roxas was up, and that Zexion had arrived, seeing as how they were both in his plain sight, but he hadn't made any action toward them. Roxas knew he should listen to Zexion's advice and wait for an opening instead of just charging in and all, but still… he felt so useless just standing here, letting Lexaeus handle things. "Zexion, can't you do something?" he asked, turning to the Schemer. "Like, make an illusion or something? That'll be all the opening I need to get in there and help!"

Zexion simply sighed as he watched. "Yes, I suppose my involvement will be inevitable, won't it?" However, despite his saying so, he still didn't make any move to actually _do _anything. Roxas was growing frustrated.

He was pretty much ready to tell Zexion off, but a quick "Shhh" from Zexion caused him to stop and look back at the battle. Xemnas was going in for a swing with his right arm, his left blade smacking away Lexaeus's Axe Sword. Lexaeus pulled back as he swung, and suddenly leaped to the side, rolling out of the way of Xemnas's slash.

Xemnas seemed to be taken by mild surprise by the sudden evasion, but more surprising was the flurry of flower petals which suddenly erupted behind him. Out of this cloud of petals, Marluxia emerged, scythe poised to strike.

"It's over, Xemnas!" he cried as his blade was swung forth in a wide arc, Xemnas's neck as its target.

Xemnas's expression did seem to indicate a lack of expectance as he clumsily dove forward, narrowly avoiding the slice as he mimicked Lexaeus's actions and rolled out of the way. But before his vulnerable posture could be properly taken advantage of, a bubble of light surrounded him and navigated him further away from the two. It then quickly dissolved, revealing him standing upright once again.

Marluxia stood at the ready now, Lexaeus now standing beside him, both looking a tad frustrated that the assassination attempt had failed. Roxas glanced up at Zexion, who simply nodded without looking at him. Roxas nodded back and ran to their side, arming himself as well.

Xemnas looked quite less than pleased at the collection standing before him. "So I see you have been freed from your mental prison, Roxas. A shame the same cannot be said for Sora."

Roxas just snorted, sparing a glance in Sora's direction, still apparently zoned out with Kairi hovering over him protectively, one glowing hand over his head. "I'm sure he's being taken care of."

Xemnas smiled. "I would have to disagree with you. After all, if I were to simply offer my observations on the matter, it certainly seems to me that the three individuals who could be protecting such a helpless individual are all standing before me, and are therefore not standing there."

Panic filled Roxas as he understood how stupid he was being. Before he could react, Xemnas was standing right behind Kairi, a glowing blade at her neck. Roxas had to blink, as there was also still a Xemnas standing in front of him and his comrades as well. It took him a moment to remember that he could create copies of himself.

"What will you do?" Xemnas asked, apparently quite amused. "I could kill her with one quick movement before you could do a thing to stop me."

"And yet you stand there without actually doing it. Really now, Xemnas, none of us have a thing you could possibly want, so why bother hanging the girl's life above our heads? Just kill her if you're going to do it." Zexion spoke in a cold, reprimanding tone of voice.

Roxas looked at him with anger all over his face, unable to believe Zexion had just said such a thing. "What the hell, Zexion! We're supposed to be a team here!"

Zexion sighed in response. "I never agreed to any such arrangement. I work with you lot because it's beneficial for me to do so. If any of you become a hindrance or liability, you aren't worth having around. Case in point, Kairi."

The Xemnas standing near Kairi laughed aloud at that. "Amazing how much trust you fools can place in someone, so sure of how that trust will be rewarded. Zexion is a perfect example of how your hearts can be led astra-" his words were cut off quite suddenly as a pale, glowing blue sword sliced through his middle, causing the clone to fade from nonexistence. The holder of the sword was none other than Zexion, or rather, a copy that Zexion had made.

It took Roxas a moment to remember that Zexion could also create copies of himself, and cast illusions to boot. The Zexion copy dismissed its weapon, an apparent duplicate of Xemnas's Ethereal Blade, and stood protectively in front of Sora and Kairi.

"Zexion… you saved me? But I thought you just said,"

"Misdirection, Kairi. It's what I'm good at."

Kairi frowned a bit, but was none the less grateful for the rescue, seeing as she was much too busy taking care of Sora to fight for herself at the moment. Stupid Sora, being all useless and shit.

Marluxia smirked. "So Xemnas, now it's four on one, and without your little Witch friend to help you."

"Make that six." Axel added, arriving to stand next to Roxas, though looking pretty beat to hell.

"Or maybe just five, if me and Axel only count as half in our current conditions…" Demyx corrected, also having apparently deemed himself worthy for more combat.

"Yeah, but we've got Zex." Axel replied. "When it comes to backup support, he's pretty much the best ya could ask for."

"True…"

Zexion rolled his eyes. "You can save your hero worship for later."

"Oh, FUCK YOU, Zexion!" Axel shouted back heatedly.

Xemnas did not look pleased by these developments. An especially angry look was spared for Zexion, but his fury soon seemed to melt away with another one of his profoundly wicked grins. "I had hoped to be able to keep a few of you among the living. I dare say you could be quite useful to me." he announced with long, drawn out words and more dramatic arm movements. "But if it is your wish to seek obliteration… then I shall graciously grant this wish."

And right now, if the reader would be so inclined, they could imagine that the final phase of "Darkness of the Unknown" by Yoko Shimomura just started playing. Because shit is now intense.

Xemnas once again generated a copy, much to everyone's lack of surprise. But this copy could not be satisfied with such insufficient levels of surprise. So it then generated another Copy. And then that Copy generated a Copy.

Xemnas and his clones then smiled; obviously they were quite satisfied at the new level of surprise they had successfully managed to stir in their victims. And then without waiting further, they moved in to attack. The copies each went after Marluxia, Lexaeus, and Axel and Demyx (proving Demyx's statement about them only counting as one). The original focused his efforts on Roxas.

Roxas quickly brought his Keyblade up to block the first incoming slash, and as he saw another coming from his opponent's other arm, he summoned forth Sora's Ultima Weapon, discarded on the ground near Sora, to his free hand and used it to guard himself further.

"Defend!" Roxas shouted as both Keyblades lit up, surrounding him in a spherical dome of light which quickly exploded outward, knocking Xemnas away. Roxas was then on the offensive, moving in for a fast-paced combination of arcing swings with both blades. Xemnas was quite prepared, raising his own blades to block the slashes as they came, constantly keeping up with the Keybearer's moves and adding his own steps to keep the boy on his toes. A looping display of red and white light defined the visual spectacle that was the conflict between Xemnas and Roxas, both warriors swinging their weapons rapidly and with precision, intending to demonstrate the full mastery of their skills.

Xemnas brought one arm down in another guarded blow, but rather then turn and swing with his other, he dismissed the blade in his other hand and jumped back a step, bringing his empty hand forward and spreading his palm. "Guard!" he commanded, generating a barrier similar to the one Roxas had cast; it shined with wavering light and looked as if it would fade out of reality if looked at a certain way – it was a barrier of Nothingness, canceling matter by virtue of being. Roxas was knocked back by the forceful shield, and Xemnas quickly responded by spinning in a circle, one arm out, and generating a circular array of glowing red lasers, which were launched after but a moment.

Roxas had landed on his back and scrambled to his feet, swinging his two blades in rapid circles barely in time to block the incoming bullets, knocking them away from him. Unfortunately, they weren't all aimed at him.

Axel found himself sloppily leaping out of the way of several of the lasers that came his way, but was the unfortunate victim of a couple grazes from a few of the ones Roxas had just knocked away as well. He swore under his breath as one shot by his leg, bringing him to one knee. "Goddamn whorebag sonofabitch…"

Demyx stood by Axel, attempting to ward off their Xemnas with walls of water, but they seemed to prove as nothing but minor hindrances as he cut through them repeatedly and fired Thorns of Nothingness through every opening he could, keeping Demyx on his toes. "I think we're in over our heads with this one…" he complained, uneasiness decorating his voice, but he kept up his defensive, hoping Axel would get up quickly.

Meanwhile, Marluxia and his Xemnas were engaged in an appropriately graceful dance of a fight, both moving fluidly and dangerously, their movements highlighted with swift red streaks back and forth, their weapons moving too quickly to be seen until they came to a very temporary stop now and then. By virtue of it being a fight involving Marluxia, there was also an abundance of flower petals around the duo. However, Marluxia would be lying to himself if he thought he was going to be the victor. _The last time I battled Xemnas, I ended up dead. And now he's more powerful than he was then. How am I supposed to do this?_ Fatigue was slowly taking its toll on Marluxia while Xemnas did not seem to grow any more tired with his repeated onslaught.

Lexaeus, however, was still in good shape, holding his own against the physical attacks from his Xemnas, while raising the earth around him to deflect projectile techniques. His face maintained a calm, calculating expression no matter how the situation changed. But out of the corner of his eye, he could see Axel and Demyx struggling, and Marluxia was beginning to slow. _He is overexerting himself._ The Assassin always was one to look for the fast kill. He didn't always fare too well in longer fights, and Lexaeus really had no means of knowing what he had been doing prior to his arrival to the fray.

Zexion was still simply standing in front of Kairi and Sora, watching the battles carefully. _I believe Axel may have been hoping for too much,_ Lexaeus thought to himself as he parried another few slashes. _Zexion doesn't seem to be very interested in supporting our efforts, but rather protecting those two. It looks like I'll have to take matters into my own hands._

Lexaeus was not pleased to have to resort to such a thing. Abandoning defense against someone like Xemnas was not a wise decision, but it looked like there was no further choice. The burly man put a bit more force than necessary into his next swing, successfully knocking his Xemnas copy back by a good dozen feet. He then clenched his fist and focused his energy. A moment later, a huge burst of force erupted from his body, causing his Xemnas to fly back a little more at the unexpected pressure, and also causing the other combatants in the room to lose their footing somewhat, despite their relative distance. Zexion summoned his Lexicon and used it to brace himself and Kairi against the force, keeping them and Sora on their collective feet.

When the wind had died down, Lexaeus was glowing with a wide, orange aura, crackling with energy. He then roared loudly as he slammed his weapon down upon the ground, causing several jagged pieces of rock to erupt forth in a column at Xemnas.

Xemnas responded by generating another barrier in front of him, blocking the bulk of the technique, but still feeling the shockwave as bits of debris hit him. Lexaeus did not let up his assault as he tossed his weapon into the air, stomping on the ground with his right, then his left foot, each stomp causing further ruptures in the ground. As his Axe Sword came falling back down, he spun and caught it mid-descent and brought it down again for a final crushing blow, an upheaval of earth and stone launching out of the ground at the off-guard Xemnas.

Marluxia noted, quite happily, that these chunks of earth were laden with roots and seeds – he could sense it from afar. He vanished in a flurry of petals, reappearing a few feet behind Xemnas as he waved his hand forward. Several vines fired out from the masses of land Lexaeus had brought forth, compelled into full growth by the Assassin's power. They moved with alarming speed, seeking to ensnare the former Superior, their lengths dotted with poisonous thorns. Xemnas shot out several lasers to slice through these vines, but soon found himself standing on a portal of poisonous energy, more vines emerging from beneath him until he was surrounded in a cage of them. Marluxia closed his eyes with a serene grin and snapped his fingers, detonating the cage and its inhabitant.

The Xemnas whom had been dealing with Demyx and Axel seemed to abandon them, flying overhead toward Lexaeus. Lexaeus's own Xemnas was hovering overhead now as well, looking a bit beaten and worse for wear. The two took opposite sides floating above the Silent Hero, aimed their hands at him, and proceeded to fire a rapid barrage of lasers. Lexaeus was able to deflect one of the streams with his blade, but his flank was left exposed, taking the full impact of the attacks. He grunted and released more of his aura as a counterattack, knocking the attacking clones away from him.

One of the clones careened through the air, taking more of the aura attack, and righted itself soon after, prepared to reengage with an irritated expression. However, his expression quickly changed to one of shock and unexpected pain. Looking down, he could see a circular weapon of red and silver jutting out of his chest. Probably not the best call in judgment to stop paying attention to his other targets. He had only a moment to curse this poor decision before the weapon burst into flames, consuming his artificial body in them for a moment, which faded away moments later.

Axel caught his bladed wheel as it fell back to him, smirking. "Never take your eyes off me. Keep that memorized."

Demyx coughed and narrowed his eyes slightly at the catchphrase.

The only remaining clone was soon involved in a war of slashes with Marluxia, who had come to Lexaeus's aid in getting rid of it. This one was much easier to keep up with, considering its prior damage at the Hero's hands. Lexaeus watched them from the ground as he began to pull his aura back in. Crushing attack power was wonderful, but it could certainly take its toll – the damage he sustained was much more severe than normal due to his body's exertion. This much was evidenced in the wound he could feel on his back from the barrage of lasers he endured; he was quite sure there was a hole in him, and that he was bleeding rather profusely from it.

While all of this had been going on, the original Xemnas was still engaged with Roxas, both of them dealing with quite a bit of crossfire between the other clones and Roxas's own teammates. Roxas was crouched in a defensive stance, both Keyblade tips touching the floor as he took in some deep breaths. He was growing exhausted, and had several rips in his clothing and bruises on his body to show for it. Xemnas, meanwhile, was still in relatively good condition, having only sustained a few blows here and there. Roxas had to guess he was more powerful than his clones were.

Xemnas sighed in mild irritation as he saw, some ways away, his final clone decapitated by a well-timed warp movement from Marluxia. Dismissing his weapons, he began to float, rising above Roxas and the others and looking down upon them with distaste. Something clicked in Roxas's memory just then as he watched Xemnas bring his arms wide.

The entire room darkened to nearly pitch black. But the darkness did not last. It was soon dotted by thousands upon thousands of ominous, red projectiles, all poised to strike the group of individuals trapped within this dome of destruction.

Xemnas uttered but a single word. "Perish."

* * *

Emerald ~ Dream ~ Gammy

* * *

Saïx was dealing with a bit of a problem. He certainly didn't want to kill Naminé, but with each passing moment it was getting more and more difficult not to. The Witch was making a rather incessant nuisance of herself with all of that damn magic, and all of Saïx's attempts at reasoning with her had consistently failed. Whatever shit Xemnas had pulled on her was pretty much not changing any time soon.

The problem was in figuring out what to do now. He was sure he had done the right thing in leading the girl away from the fight and saving his comrades the stress of dealing with her, but now that it was just the two of them, and she was obviously not going to be roused from her current state with words, Saïx really had no clue what to do with her. It was becoming increasingly bothersome dodging, blocking, or weathering her spells, and he didn't want to strike back due to the knowledge that whatever he did would probably end up killing her. He _could_ probably just knock her out if he could get close enough to punch her, but he could not, unfortunately, breech that distance. Her black magic simply grew more and more intense the closer he got to her, as if sensing his intent.

Saïx may have been one of Roxas's Homie Gee 360s, and he certainly had little against Naminé – no more than he had against anyone else – but he wasn't about to lay down his life in sacrifice if things got out of hand. If Naminé became too big of a threat, he was going to have to take her down.

"I see that you're having some trouble. Maybe I can assist you?"

Saïx knew that voice. He took a moment to turn his eyes away from Naminé, who was standing poised for attack with her damn book open, and glanced behind him. Sure enough, loping down the hall at a leisurely pace was Zero, hands in his pockets (his cloak had pockets? Saïx was wicked jealous) and carefree smile in place.

"What are you doing here?" Saïx asked icily. Naminé took advantage of his perceived distraction to launch a parade of black flames from her hands, her Heathen Tome hovering wide open in front of her. Saïx quickly danced around the flames, Zero following suit behind him.

The enigma chose to ignore Saïx's question as he resumed his approach, eyes on Naminé. "You don't have what it takes to free this girl. You lack any abilities pertaining to the mind, soul, or Darkness. It's beyond you."

"And I'm assuming that you mean to imply it is not beyond you?" Saïx replied, keeping his eyes trained on the man carefully while also watching Naminé, who seemed to also be observing Zero, in a vacant, sort of mind-controly way.

"It is perfectly within the scope of my abilities, yes."

"And you wish to 'help'. What sort of game are you playing?"

Zero took on a look of mock hurt as he raised one hand dramatically to his chest. "Why Saïx, I'm hurt! Can't I just do something nice?" Saïx rolled his eyes at the display. Zero laughed to himself as he dropped the obvious façade. "It doesn't matter what I want out of it. I'm graciously offering my help. You should be thanking me."

"I don't want your help. Begone."

"Oh, shut up." Zero replied. He then rushed forward, darting past Saïx as he made a rapid beeline for Naminé. The girl reacted quickly, her tome glowing as an accursed black energy was launched in wisps at Zero. The man cackled as he fazed through the attacks and closed the distance between himself and the Witch. His arm launched forward and his palm was placed firmly over the girl's face.

Naminé's posture went rigid at the contact, her tome falling to the floor with a resounding thump. After a moment, her figure went limp, falling into a gentle embrace from Zero, who looked down upon her now unconscious face with appreciation. He then turned to look at Saïx smugly for a moment before bringing Naminé into a dip, in imitation of a ballroom dance, and pressed his lips against hers.

Saïx watched the display with surprise for a moment before he growled lowly and surged forward, swinging his Claymore horizontally at Zero's head. He arrived too late, however, as the pair was gone to the folds of Darkness before his weapon could make contact. He was seething at his inability to act, his teeth grit harshly against each other.

The Tome was also gone.

* * *

Menale Fiti

* * *

_Damn it, damn it, damn it…_

Roxas was in tatters. The group had not weathered that attack very well. Roxas had moved to defend the fallen bodies of Xigbar and Xaldin as best he could, with less than fully successful results. Lexaeus was unable to completely prevent the majority of the attack from making contact with him, lacking any light or darkness with which to repel the bolts of Nothingness. Marluxia had been taken completely off-guard by the assault, and Axel and Demyx were in too poor shape to block it with any degree of success either, weather they had been expecting it or not.

One speck of silver lining was that Zexion had absorbed Kairi and Sora into his Lexicon at the last second and had then proceeded to vanish himself. Man, the guy was an asshole. But at least Roxas could be grateful for his saving the hapless duo.

All around Roxas he could see his friends beaten down and in no condition to fight any more. Demyx and Axel were both on the ground now, still breathing but not moving. Behind him, Xigbar and Xaldin were still alive by his check, but had sustained even more injuries. They were also totally unconscious now as well, assuming they had even retained any consciousness of the battle since their check-out. Marluxia was slumped against a wall, still partially standing and trying to keep it together. And Lexaeus, for all his strength, was leaning heavily on his Axe Sword, taking heavy breaths and looking scarred all over.

Roxas took in his surroundings uneasily, looking for Xemnas. How in the hell they expected to beat him in their condition was beyond him, but he should at least be accounted for.

He found Xemnas just as he turned to look in Lexaeus's direction. There he was, standing right behind the Silent Hero. And in the next moment, two glowing red blades were sticking through Lexaeus's chest. His eyes widened and his giant weapon was dropped, clanging onto the floor. All conscious eyes stared in transfixed horror as they watched what were surely Lexaeus's final moments. He did not scream, or groan, or indicate pain any more than his eyes conveyed. He simply stood, as if waiting for the end. But then, unexpectedly, he reached one massive palm behind him and grabbed a hold of Xemnas's right arm, one of the very arms holding the blades of his demise inside of him.

An actual look of dismay could be seen on Xemnas's face as the powerful hand clamped around his wrist and _squeezed _and _twisted_. A loud crack was heard throughout the nearly empty, mostly destroyed room and the blades vanished from Lexaeus's body as the sudden pain of crushed bones made Xemnas lose his grip on them. Lexaeus then finally uttered one great, roaring sound as he swung his arm, still holding Xemnas by his destroyed wrist and flung the man across the room, his body smacking hard into the far wall with another loud crack.

And then, silent once more, Lexaeus fell to his knees and took his last breath, his eyes closing as he slumped forward onto the ground. The great, immovable pillar of strength that was Lexaeus had at last fallen.

Roxas screamed, and in a sudden burst of adrenaline, he charged as fast as his legs would carry him over to Xemnas, Keyblades burning with the rage of light. Xemnas was getting to his feet just in time to partially guard the strike, summoning a blade with his only good hand and clumsily parrying the attack, trying to put distance between himself and the boy. But Roxas would not let up as hot tears ran down his cheeks, his weapons swinging quickly and powerfully with uncapped fury and hatred. Lexaeus had been like a father to him, always there to dispense advice and guidance when he needed it. Though it had been Xaldin's suggestion that he date Naminé, Lexaeus had been there to silently nod at Roxas (while reading the newspaper), assuring him that it was good advice and not just drunken rambling.

Xemnas was finding himself quickly overwhelmed, the lack of a second blade causing an unbalance to the style he knew, in addition to the size of just one of his weapons being insufficient in completely protecting himself from the wrath of the Keyblades. In a last ditch effort to protect himself, he abandoned his blade and used his only good arm to create another barrier of Nothingness. The tactic worked, knocking the boy backwards and away, temporarily halting his relentless assault. Working quickly, Xemnas summoned two clones – both severely weakened due to lack of energy, as well as possessing one gimp arm each, but clones none the less. The two of them quickly rushed forward, each one taking hold of one of Roxas's arms and raising him up into the air.

The Keybearer struggled and kicked at their grips, but they would not relent. The true Xemnas flew up in front of him, and with hatred in his eyes, placed his hand firmly over the boy's chest. The four bodies went aglow with crackling, white energy, and much to his horror, Roxas could feel the life within him slipping away. _What is this…_

"The power of your heart shall soon be mine, Key of Destiny."

Roxas struggled in vain against the draining energy as he gasped out. "M-my… heart…?"

"Certainly a unique occurrence, for a Nobody to possess one. You can hardly even be called a Nobody, solely by that virtue. But it matters not. I will remedy this joke of fate, and you will cease to be." Xemnas explained through calmed anger, his smile back on his face.

The world was starting to fade around Roxas. He could feel himself slipping away. And then all at once, the draining sensation was gone, replaced with a more… fall-y sensation. Roxas felt himself land in a pair of what he guessed were arms, and tried to open his eyes to the blurry light. His vision soon solidified, and he was looking up at Marluxia, who was looking him over with concern.

Upon seeing that he was alright, he smiled, and Roxas swore he felt some fondling. He quickly got out of the man's arms. "I can stand, thanks. What happened?" he asked, but rather than wait for an answer, he looked up to find Xemnas, clutching his head and uttering low, guttural sounds. His clones had vanished.

Confused, Roxas looked around until he suddenly spotted Naminé, apparently having just arrived in the room and still adorned in that silly witch outfit. Her hand was outstretched and her eyes were closed.

"Roxas! I've got him held down!"

"How?" Roxas called back.

"Is this really the time to be asking how, numbnuts! Take him out, now!"

"Psh, fuck that, _I'll _take him out." A familiar, bitchy voice called from the shadows as Larxene suddenly appeared, warping behind Xemnas and wasting no time in driving a knife right into the back of his neck. She then released a surge of electricity, flooding his body with lightning, the base of his neck as the focal point for its spread.

After a moment, the electrification stopped, and Xemnas fell from the air, landing in a heap on the floor. He appeared to be breathing, but barely. Naminé ran across the room and threw her arms around Roxas, saying all kinds of things like how much she missed him and how she felt like a princess and other bullshit. Larxene landed nearby and looked Xemnas's body over. He spoke.

"Defeated… by the Savage… and the Witch. Unbelievable…"

Larxene smirked as she walked over and kicked him, knocking him onto his back, and then drove a heel into his stomach for good measure. "Better start believing, because it just happened, bitch."

However, rather than the last words of a foiled villain, Xemnas merely smiled. A genuine smile, at that. "Thank you. You have rid the worlds of the influence of that corrupt, evil man. No longer will his darkness permeate the lives of the innocent. Again, I… thank you."

Larxene had a pretty 'what the fuck' look on her face. But Xemnas merely continued to smile as his body faded away into the Nothingness he so desired. "Well that was weird."

Roxas nodded, a tad mystified by it. But then he remembered his friends. And Lexaeus.

* * *

It had taken some doing, but Naminé had managed to heal some of the wounds of the group, bringing them away from death's door, but for the most part everyone was still rather banged up. She had apologized for not being able to do more, but she seemed to have lost her Heathen Tome, a fact she was very upset about, and couldn't do any better without it.

And so, with sadness, respect, or both in their eyes, the damaged collection of warriors gathered around Lexaeus's body, which had only just begun to fade, disappearing in small wisps. It was rather like a funeral procession, everyone silent, their eyes downcast. Roxas's fist was gripped tightly enough to draw a small amount of blood. Naminé grabbed his other hand and squeezed softly, reassuringly. Demyx was sniffling and crying openly, clutching the hems of his robes as a sort of handkerchief. Axel looked down with half-lidded eyes, shaking his head softly. Xaldin watched with stony silence, his Dreadlocks all shedding water which was assumed to be tears. He even knelt down and placed his Pimp cane next to Lexaeus ("For the trip to the afterworld, old sport."). Xigbar, his shoulder holes now healed, stared down with a similar expression to Xaldin's, unspoken respect for his colleague and old friend communicated through that one good eye of his. Always a bit uptight, but none the less, Lexaeus had been a pretty cool dude. Marluxia laid several roses all around Lexaeus, watching him go with a frown ("That attempted assassination we pulled on Xemnas was almost the best collaboration ever. Until he moved and then killed you later."). Even Larxene nodded her chin up once, which was about as respectful a gesture as you were going to get from her.

When his body had finally vanished, somehow taking Xaldin's Pimp Cane with it, the small circle of people broke apart.

"That's one guy down." Xigbar announced. "But we still have another big fish to fry. We've got cards to find, guys, and we've got to be quick about it."

There was a silent murmur of agreement.

"So am I the only one wondering when Marly got here? And where the hell did Sora and Kairi go? And Naminé, you never did answer how you did that shit to Xemnas." Larxene spoke up loudly.

Naminé frowned. "I used the same thing on him as he made me use on Sora and Roxas. By working to control me, he made a connection, and I was able to use that connection against him. But that was the last of my active Heathen Spells… I don't know where Saïx is, but I have vague recollections that he was with me before I came to. I woke up in one of the halls around here a little bit ago, and I could remember most of what had happened and what I had done, but not how I got there. I found you guys and just did what I could."

"So you don't know where Saïx went?" Roxas asked, concerned.

"No… and I don't know where Sora and Kairi are either. But since I'm back to normal, Sora should be fine now, wherever he is."

"I'm right here!" Sora called, surprising everyone as he ran up to them with Kairi close behind him. "We were with Zexion! He got me and Kairi away from the battle when it became too dangerous, because I was kinda brain-dead and she was protecting me."

"Although I kind of wonder why he didn't just help Sora the same way he helped Roxas." Kairi added, seeming pretty pissed about it. "Anyway, he sent us back here, saying he had work to do. Asshole. So how are things guys, I guess we beat Xemnas?"

"Yeah! Man that sucks. I wish I coulda helped." Sora said, smiling at them all. He was met only with grim expressions. "Geez guys, who died?"

Larxene laughed.

Sora and Kairi were soon thereafter filled in on Lexaeus's death, as well as the other things they had missed. Sora bawled for an entire hour while the group searched the halls for Saïx. They found him eventually, wandering around, kind of lost. They then informed him of Lexaeus's death as well. Sora bawled for another hour.

"That is… unfortunate. It's a great loss." Saïx admitted over Sora's noise, shaking his head. "But at least you all are well."

"Psh, like you care." Larxene retorted. "You're pretty much cold to everyone, and I doubt you actually give a damn. I mean, I don't, and you were pretty much Xemnas's lapdog."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP LARXENE!" Naminé shouted angrily.

Larxene just smiled slyly.

"God!" Naminé continued. "I can't believe you can say that! I mean, what the hell even made you come back and help in the first place!"

Larxene shrugged. "A magical disembodied voice told me to."

Everyone kinda went silent at that. It was not like Larxene to say that sort of thing with a straight face.

"No really, that happened. She even gave me an Apple Custard Pie. It was fucking amazing. Better than CHICKUN and Delicious Steak put together."

"Wow." Sora admitted, ceasing his bawling.

"Yeah." Larxene replied. "Wow."

"Alright, so guys." Xigbar spoke up. "This is all very interesting, but we do need to get the hell out of here and look for cards. We've got the 00 and the 08, but that's pretty much it."

"Uhm, actually," Marluxia interrupted, smirking. "While you guys have been off doing who knows what, I found the 03, the 11, and the 10."

Xigbar raised his eyebrow. "Seriously? That's awesome. How did you manage that? You kind of wandered off before we could give you a radar."

"Honestly? I have no clue. Just kinda followed the ol' intuition and yeah. Found 'em." Marluxious had clearly reverted back to being regular Marluxia at this point, as he was applying makeup and talking with an effeminate pitch.

"Huh. Weird, but okay. So I guess that just leaves nine more. Alright."

It was commonly agreed upon that this was alright, as Xigbar had stated. Now that Xemnas was finally gone, they could focus on their remaining adversary – the enigma called Zero.

Most were still rather unnerved by his existence, and Naminé was especially uncomfortable (and Roxas enraged) when Saïx described to them all the nature of her apparent rescue.

But there would be time to investigate, and time to discuss, later. For now, the group simply focused on getting out of the Castle, and finding some time to rest off their wounds.

* * *

And yet…

* * *

Zexion stood on the shores of the Dark Meridian, staring out at the black, lapping waters. In his hand, he held a black card, the very same card Xemnas had given to him. He lifted the object, staring at it with interested scrutiny. Xemnas's face stared back from the card's front.

"I suppose it's time then." Zexion spoke to no one in particular. "Time for the final page to be turned."

And then he squeezed. The card emitted a black aura that flowed outward, surrounding Zexion. He then placed the card into the center of his chest. It slowly seeped through his cloak, through skin and bone, right into his soul, where it met with his soul card. And then a burst of darkness erupted from his body, shooting into the dark skies in a large pillar, twisting and turning and writhing with a darkness deeper than the Meridian's shores.

And then the darkness faded, and Zexion was standing once again. But not quite Zexion. His skin was a noticeably darker pallor. His hair had turned a grey-silver color, and while retaining the same overall style, was much more jagged and messy. His face seemed to have a slightly longer, angular shape than it had before. He had perhaps even grown a few inches taller. And his eyes, his eyes were aglow with a bright, burning, golden color. He looked at the sky.

"This world is not large enough for us."


	7. Torn Pages

**Warnings: The same ones that have been in all of these things.**

**Pairings: Established Roxas/Namine, Established Sora/Kairi, One-Sided (Though reciprocated hate) Larxene/Naminé, Implied One-Sided (Possibly Non-Consensual) Axel/Saix, innuendo all over the place.**

**Unravel the Heart**

**Chapter 6: Torn Pages**

**

* * *

**

Immolation ~ Bifurcation ~ Desolation

* * *

The light of Kingdom Hearts cast an eerie, iridescent glow upon the brownish walls of the Castle, the gleam bright and vivid against the stark blackness of the space beyond. Naminé pursed her lips in irritation at the sight. Kingdom Hearts wasn't supposed to be here. It was supposed to be back in The World That Never Was, acting as a second moon to the odd world. It was not supposed to be floating overhead Castle Oblivion, and its presence here was a mystery they had yet to solve.

Nearby, Roxas sat on the ground while he gazed upward at it as well, silent and thoughtful. He had yet to say a word since he started staring at it, and Naminé was beginning to grow troubled by it. "A penny for your thoughts, Roxas?"

"No way. My thoughts are worth at LEAST a dollar."

Naminé walked over to him, knelt down, and slapped him across the face. "WHAT BITCH?"

Roxas decided he had better answer, and he had better do it quick. "Okay, sorry! I was just… thinking. Probably the exact same thing you're doing. How did Xemnas bring Kingdom Hearts here?"

"Well those thoughts weren't even worth a penny. They were worthless, because it's the exact same thing I've been pondering. Gawd."

Roxas contemplated beating Naminé with a stick, but decided against it. Instead he glanced over his shoulder at the rest of their comrades, who were seated about carelessly, doing nothing of particular interest. After the group had managed to navigate their way out of Castle Oblivion, the issue of Kingdom Hearts' presence was still a troubling one. Xigbar had instructed some time ago that they all wait outside the castle while he went to investigate the situation, but he had yet to return.

Needless to say, the group was becoming quite bored at all this waiting, and many of them wanted to rest, still quite wounded and exhausted from their battle with Xemnas.

And then Zero showed up.

"Hello everyone, good to see you all."

The suddenness of it all, along with the lack of any kind of dramatic, over-wordy indication of his arrival took everyone by surprise. Even you. You just don't know it yet.

Sora, who was still completely unharmed from having not fought Xemnas at all leaped to his feet and scurried toward the man with his Keyblade held high in his mighty stick-arms. Zero made to easily deflect the attack with his own Keyblade, but was suddenly shot in the back, taken by surprise. This surprise provided ample opening for Sora to swing with his blade, catching Zero against its blunt edge and smacking him roughly to the floor, a visible slice appearing on his body.

Sora looked up to see Xigbar hovering overhead, guns aimed at the wounded man. "Looks like I chose the perfect moment to show up."

Zero seemed to be getting to his feet, a less-than-entertained look on his face as he made a show of briskly brushing himself off. "That was most inhospitable of you."

"Cut the bullshit Zero. Every time you show up it's nothing but grief. Obviously you're feeling like spouting some more words to piss us off, like always, but I don't really feel like listening today." And without waiting for an answer, Xigbar opened fire immediately.

Zero glared as the bullets began to stream right through him, harmlessly, causing Xigbar to relent so as to avoid wasting shots. No point in firing when your target was just going to be a bitch and faze through everything.

"You know, I'm really not such a terrible person. You all just seem to take everything I do the wrong way. And here I was planning on hopping on over here to help you all out, and what do I get? A big heaping pile of 'Fuck You, Zero' apparently."

"Wow, did you seriously just use the sooooo cliché "I'm just trying to help you" tactic? That's really, really old." Marluxia said with crossed arms, pursing his lips and shaking his head at the man.

Larxene leaned casually against the Girly Assassin as she nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're kind of a stupid bitchwad, Zero. Anyway, we already took care of Xemnas so you're pretty much the only problem we have left. If we just kill you we can be done with all this bullshit and move on with our damn lives."

Zero looked around the circle of angry nobodies (plus Sora and Kairi) as they all readied themselves to kick his ass. Or so they thought. But of course, Zero is the central antagonist, so of course they aren't going to successfully do that.

Zero sighed. "Look, I'd rather we just expedite this whole confrontation issue, so I think I'll just say what I came to say – Kingdom Hearts is here because-" he didn't get a chance to finish before he was suddenly dodging away from some lightning bolts fired by Larxene. It was a tad surprising seeing her take some initiative against him for once.

"Thought we said we didn't want to hear it." She said, giving Zero her most apathetic expression. "Now shut the fuck up and die."

All humor seemed to have left Zero now, as he was pretty pissed off that he wasn't being allowed to speak. "My god you guys are boring. I thought we had this routine learned by now. I show up and say something cryptic. One of you tries to attack me and I easily avoid it. I taunt you, laugh, and then leave. It's very simple. You guys aren't sticking to the fucking program."

"Save your breath, bucko. I already know why Kingdom Hearts is here." Xigbar spoke up.

Zero looked upward at him, still quite irritated. "Oh?"

"Xemnas just used all the light he absorbed into his body to carve out a path through the darkness of the in-between, and then sent a bunch of Heartless here to Castle Oblivion for us to kill. As Roxas and Sora killed them all, little by little, all the freed hearts lured Kingdom Hearts through that pathway he made until it arrived here. It's pretty simple man, not a big giant issue."

Zero shrugged. "That is all correct. But you seem to be overlooking one thing. Those Heartless you were all destroying were the same variety you've been dealing with in all the other worlds as of late – the Soul Snatchers. Aren't you the least bit curious as to how Xemnas managed to assume command of them?"

Xigbar rolled his eye. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you're involved."

An exasperated sigh escaped the enigma as he threw his arms into the air in a frustrated fashion. "Yes, I was involved. I told them to go ahead and do whatever he wanted, and made him think he was just some kind of badass who could control them while you guys couldn't. All to lure you here and make you fight them and bring Kingdom Hearts to this location. Doesn't anything surprise you guys anymore?"

Xaldin spoke for the first time since Zero's arrival, making a "hmm" sound and nodding. "Well that last bit was a little surprising. So you are basically saying you wanted to bring Kingdom Hearts here as well, and so you used Xemnas, who in turn used us, to do the job?"

"Good, yes. That is correct Xaldin, and your surprise is acceptable. We're getting back on fucking track here."

"You seem so flustered today, Zero. You're normally such a cool, collected customer."

"I just get frustrated sometimes." He replied, facepalming a bit and sighing softly.

Xigbar also sighed, shouldering his weapons. "Alright. You got me, I'll bite. Why did you want to bring Kingdom Hearts here?"

Zero smirked. "And now comes the part where I don't tell you anything useful, laugh, and leave you all with questions."

Roxas swore loudly before deciding to "screw all this expository banter!" and summoned his Keyblades to him, charging at Zero. He knew well that Zero was capable of fighting him off, but he was damn well sick of the guy. However, before he could make much progress, he stopped dead in his tracks as a sudden, overwhelming feeling overtook his body.

All around him his comrades had vivid looks of surprise on their faces as they suddenly felt the oppressive new power that Roxas was also feeling. _What the…_ he thought to himself, wondering where this power was suddenly coming from. It was darkness, extreme volumes of darkness that was flooding the area around the castle. Much to Roxas's surprise, even Zero's visible eye was wide with the feeling, this phenomenon apparently being something even he wasn't expecting.

And then right in the center of the large circle of nobodies (and Sora and Kairi), the air seemed to shift and bend for a moment, before a large, black portal sprang out from it, seeming to rip apart the air as it formed, most unlike a standard Corridor of Darkness. And from within this black portal, a man with dark skin emerged, waving his hand as the portal closed behind him.

And then all was silent as he stood there, calmly taking in the individuals around him.

"Is that… Zexion?" Axel broke the silence as he stepped forward a bit. "Yo, Zex, what's the deal?"

The man, assumedly Zexion, glanced up at Axel. "You will not address us by that name." Axel then stepped back, a feeling of uneasiness filling him as he was stared down by this man. Zexion then turned to face Zero, looking him up and down for a moment. "You parasite. Have you come to meddle further in our affairs?"

Zero's eyes narrowed. "Did you really do something so stupid, Zexion? I thought you were smarter than that."

"We believe it was just ordered," Zexion replied, waving his hand in a wide arc. A wave of darkness sprang forth in an arc as well, tracing the motions of his arm as it slammed into the circle of individuals around him, knocking them asunder, Zero included. "That you were not to call us by that name. We no longer possess such a trivial thing."

The Organization all began getting to their feet after the unexpected attack, now heavily on their guard around their aggressor. Zero didn't seem too phased by the action, but nevertheless stood ready. "Incredible. So you actually did something so stupid as to fuse with Xemnas. How absurd."

"What?" Sora asked, looking at Zero in disbelief. "Zexion fused with Xemnas? How did he do that? _Why_ would he do that?"

"Contrary to popular belief, Sora, I don't have _all_ the answers." Zero retorted. "I haven't the foggiest as to why Zexion would do such a stupid thing. But as for how, it's quite clear to me that he absorbed Xemnas's Soul Card into himself."

"But we killed Xemnas!" Roxas shot back.

"Clearly he anticipated that he might die. He must have given his Soul Card to Zexion for safe keeping."

"But that would mean…" Demyx, who was observing the proceedings with wide eyes, looked like he was going to cry. "If Xemnas gave it to Zexion… then doesn't that mean they were working together?"

"No way! He wouldn't have done that, he was our friend!" Kairi replied. "He helped us kill Xemnas to begin with, remember?" She placed a hand on Demyx's shoulder. "Xemnas probably found some way to deceive him, or maybe he even did something in the middle of that last attack of his! None of us could even see him!"

"It's amazing that you grasp so feebly at straws." Zero cut across Kairi's sentiments with a scornful laugh. "What's more amazing is that you ever even trusted him to begin with. Zexion has always been a snake, and has always been far more concerned with his own agenda than anyone else. Why is it so far-fetched for you to believe he would help Xemnas? Especially with the evidence standing right before your eyes. Zexion – no wait, he's being all uppity about that name, - _Zexemnas_ here should prove my point just fine."

The man, ("Zexemnas") just snorted in apparent dry humor. "Zexemnas. Interesting. Fine, if you insist, we shall adopt that name. If you people so desire such a name to call us by, you have our permission to use it. Now…" Zexemnas turned away from them all and cast his gaze upon the floating moon that was Kingdom Hearts. "We are done wasting our time with you all. There will be time to squash you insects all soon enough. But first, we must seek a dominion that is suitable for one such as us."

As he spoke, he began to hover up into the air, arms spread wide as he looked upon the shining moon. "And our Kingdom Hearts… it will provide just such a dominion."

"So wait… you're going to take over Kingdom Hearts?" Marluxia asked. "I mean, I'm just trying to be clear on what exactly is going on here."

"Obviously." was Zexemnas's response. He then disappeared in a flash of light.

"Oh man!" Sora yelled loudly. "Does this mean we're gonna have to like, go into Kingdom Hearts and walk around and maybe have buildings thrown at us and other junk like that?"

"That sounds like it would be a pretty badass fight." Axel commented.

"Yeah, man, but I'm just so _tired_."

"This is totally unacceptable." Zero spoke up suddenly, crossing his arms and looking kind of irritated. "I just want you guys to know that. I'm really unhappy right now."

"What have you got your knickers in a twist over?" Xaldin asked.

"Just… this! This guy is stealing my thunder. I'm supposed to be the villain here."

"Wow," said Kairi. "I've never met a villain who was so bent on his status as such."

"Okay, that's a fucking lie and you know it." Axel shot at her. "Xemnas was CONSTANTLY going on about how evil he was."

"Actually, Axel, I'm pretty sure Xemnas never said two words about anything relating to good or evil."

"Yeah, but- Okay, yeah, but come on. I mean all the overdramatic speeches? Philosophical waxing on the nature of light and darkness? His desire to be all god-like and tyrannical? He might as well have been saying 'I R BAD' at any given moment!"

"While I do see the point you are trying to make," Kairi replied, shrugging her shoulders and giving him a sheepish look. "I just have to respectfully disagree with it."

"Okay, and I can respectfully call you a bitch!" Axel retorted.

"Actually, I don't think there's a respectful way to do that." Zero commented.

"Hey, shut up Zero, this doesn't involve you."

"Ugh, and THAT is precisely the problem!" Zero announced, throwing his hands up in the air sometimes. "Don't you all see? I'm supposed to be involved in everything. I'm the villain."

"And again," Kairi spoke up. "It's getting really difficult to take you seriously when you're making such an over exaggeratedly big deal about that fact. I mean, come on, who even does that? Calling yourself a villain?"

"I do that. I'm totally a villain." Larxene spoke up, still leaning casually on Marluxia's shoulder in a manner that implied she didn't give a fuck about anything. This was probably true.

"You're a special case and we'll deal with that later." Kairi said, making vague gestures with her hands at Larxene, her face very much conveying the fact that she was not in the mood for Larxene's shit right now.

"Well," Zero spoke again. "Maybe all this fuss I'm making is just a ploy to make you guys underestimate me. Maybe I'm lulling you all into a false state of security."

"If you were doing that, you wouldn't TELL us about it." Sora said, shrugging in a rational manner.

"Unless I'm just that good."

There was silence. Zero's smug grin was seen by all. Roxas's mouth made an "O" shape.

"In any case," Zero continued, once again seeming his cool-customer self, toying with a strand of hair in front of his face as he continued to smirk. "I think I've had enough fun. Thank you all very much, this has been incredibly entertaining. But alas, I do need to get back to that boring old work again. So I would advise you handle Xemnas's little remnant up there while I attend to my busy schedule. Also, as an afterthought, it's rather hilarious how easy it is to avoid a fight with any of you. All it takes is idle chit chat. Truly astounding."

Zero waved and smiled, and was gone in a rift of shadow. Sora looked up at the sky and swore very loudly and for ten minutes without stopping.

"HOW THE HELL DID WE LET THAT HAPPEN?" he finally exclaimed when he was through being a potty mouth.

Roxas seemed just as frustrated, wrenching his fingers in his hair as he ground his teeth together and released several frustrated grunts. "I don't KNOW, man! I mean, one minute we're all primed to take on Zero and beat the shit out him, and the next we're talking to him like some old friend and… gah!"

"He was right, we're really easy to distract. I'm pretty ashamed of myself right now." Marluxia admitted, shaking his head. "I mean we just… yeah."

Saïx, who had been completely silent up until now, just sighed. Loudly. "You guys are all idiots."

Axel and Roxas looked like they were about to cry. "Cummon Saïx, you don't mean that!" Axel cried emphatically, looking like his entire future depended on Saïx's answer.

"No, I do. I really, really do. You're fucking idiots."

Axel looked like a sword had been jabbed through his nonexistent heart, and Roxas immediately crouched onto the ground, drawing circles in the dirt and looking despondent. Naminé looked upon him with pity in her eyes. She knew. She knew how hard it was to be told something like that from your Homie Gee 360. She didn't know what she would ever do if Kairi ever said something like that to her. Not that Kairi ever would though. She and Kairi were tighter than tight. They were like a vice grip of friendship.

She had heard one time that Lexaeus had called Xigbar and Xaldin idiots one time, back when he was still alive of course, due to some stupid prank the two had played on him. As she remembered, Xigbar and Xaldin had been depressed for a solid week after that.

Suddenly a light appeared. Oh yeah, we're getting back to the plot now, and not all of this Homie Gee despondent silliness. Anyway, yeah, a light appeared. And it was bright and vivid, and Larxene immediately turned her face away from it momentarily, for she knew better.

Everyone else tried to stare at it and was momentarily blinded, because as we have established, they are all idiots. After a moment had passed and the blindness had worn off, a voice spoke from the light.

"You have all done very well in defeating Xemnas… but I fear that it is not yet done. There is something which you all must know."

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold the phone. Who the hell are you?" Xigbar asked.

"Don't bother asking, she's just going to say it's none of our concern." Larxene answered. "This is the same disembodied voice that told me to go help you guys."

"A voice that persuaded _Larxene_ to do the right thing?" Naminé exclaimed incredulously. "Color me interested. Voice, do go on."

"Yes… right." the voice responded. "You see, for some time now, Xemnas has been a conflicted individual. Deep within his soul, a battle between light and darkness has been waged again and again, with no end in sight. Or at least, it had appeared that that would be the case. But recently, the darker part of Xemnas had developed a ploy. He stopped fighting the light, and let the goodness in Xemnas assume full control. It was at this time that an agreement had been made with Sora, allowing the Organization to live and receive their hearts in exchange for giving up on their evil.

But the darkness had not given up. While it had refrained from warring with the inner light, it sought a different source. A Nobody, as you all know, is a fragmented being – a body and a soul, but no heart. In Xemnas's circumstance, the light in him had assumed control of the body and mind upon "winning" its struggle with the darkness. But while the light side of him was occupied as such, the darkness very slowly and quietly consumed his Soul Card. Eventually Xemnas's card was taken completely by the darkness, allowing it to make a comeback and take complete control. This is the Xemnas you all faced. The Dark Xemnas, who resolved to use Sora's efforts to rekindle his old plans for godhood.

The Light Xemnas was forced to watch helplessly as the Dark half went about his machinations, a prisoner in his own body. But there was hope. While he dreamt, he came into contact with me, and through our conversations, we developed a way to strike back. With my power, the Light half of Xemnas was able to leave small imprints on his Dark mind whenever the Dark half would sleep. These imprints would cause the Dark half to perform various actions subconsciously, with little thought for them. This culminated in Dark Xemnas absorbing the power of light into his body from Kingdom Hearts so that he could combat you all with it, forcing him to abandon the darkness in his body, sending it to Naminé instead."

"This is all very informative." Larxene spoke up. "But come on voice, we don't have all day. Get to the point."

An echo-like sigh was heard, and the voice continued. "Essentially, Dark Xemnas filled himself with light to give himself more power, without thinking about the fact that it would in fact allow light into his soul once again. The Light Xemnas caused him to perform these actions subconsciously, and so he did not realize he would be setting himself up for his own demise."

"But he isn't dead. He fused with Zexion." Demyx pointed out. Everyone looked at him in surprise, apparently shocked that he had managed to make an intelligent observation. But come on guys, Demyx is kinda smart. Kinda.

"Yes." The voice replied. "We hadn't anticipated that. Dark Xemnas's mind was not one with Light Xemnas, and so we could not completely know his thoughts. We had no idea he was planning on such a gambit. But alas, we may be able to save Zexion, as well as put a stop to Dark Xemnas once and for all now. You see, there was a purpose in tricking Dark Xemnas to welcome light into his body and soul. Even though he has died, those traces of light have allowed me to hold pieces of him together. As we speak, I am working on rebuilding those pieces back into the fragmented body of a Nobody, but this time, with only the Light Xemnas behind the wheel."

"So basically," Marluxia drawled out, trying to make sure he was following. "You're saying you can bring Xemnas back to life, but as a good guy, and he can help us go beat the shit out of his bad half, which has fused with Zexion presumably against his will?"

"Essentially."

"You couldn't have just said that to begin with?"

"I assumed you would want a valid explanation for how it was possible so that no one would call Nonsensical BS on my actions."

"For the record," Larxene pointed out, "I think it's kind of nonsensical BS that you're here to begin with. I mean you're a nameless, disembodied voice who is apparently bent on helping us, but you refuse to share any information about yourself. Not to mention that you're saying you have the power to bring someone back to life with the light, which would imply that you're some kind of big deal? You're basically like a giant deus ex machina for our whole situation."

"All will be revealed in due time…"

"That is such a BS answer, too."

"Larxene, I must warn you," the voice admonished. "You are beginning to sound like Vexen with all your bitching."

There was a collective "Ooooooooh" throughout the crowd, and Xaldin could distinctly be heard saying "Oh snap!"

"Look, if you really want such a non enigmatic answer, at least accept this of me: I am a strange but helpful mystery person who is sincerely just trying to help you all, for the sake of all the worlds. I also have to stay mysterious for a very good reason, which you'll just have to trust me on, okay?"

"I do not know you, at all, so why the hell should I, or any of us, trust you?"

"Because I'm going to help you defeat Zexemnas. By the way, that's a pretty silly name you gave him."

After a lot more arguing from Larxene, it was eventually decided upon that the voice knew what she was talking about and should be obeyed at all costs. Okay, perhaps not that exactly, but everyone decided to be more or less cooperative, which was really saying something for them.

"But one condition, mysterious voice." Marluxious was more serious than ever as he addressed the giant glowy light. "Larxene says you gave her some Apple Custard Pie. I want some, or else we're not doing what you say."

"The Apple Custard Pie is sacred! It is not something I can simply hand out so easily!"

"PIE OR NO DEAL."

"You're absurd!"

"PIE."

"Ugh. Fine. I shall offer you but ONE Apple Custard Pie, and you will divide it among your group."

And so it was that a glorious Apple Custard Pie appeared, and it was sliced thinly so that all could partake. Except Larxene, because she got to eat a whole one already. However, she just stabbed Demyx and stole his. He cried about it, but no one really cared other than Kairi.

"Now that that's out of the way…" Saïx addressed the Voice, stony calm still in place even as he writhed in ecstasy at the taste of the pie in his mind. "What exactly is our objective? You say you can resurrect the Light Xemnas, and he will help us defeat Zexemnas and eliminate his darker half. But how do we go about accomplishing all of this?"

"Zexemnas is within Kingdom Hearts at the moment, amassing the power of all the hearts contained within. He also has access to all of the doorways to hearts of other worlds from within. If he is left to his own devices, he will be able to travel these pathways and take the hearts of one world at a time, sending them into the darkness and gaining immeasurable power. To prevent this, I will send you all into Kingdom Hearts after him – he will not be able to go and attack the other worlds as long as you are there in his domain to keep him occupied."

"So we're playing distraction, wonderful." Larxene remarked sarcastically.

"It is a vital task. You have no idea just how powerful Zexemnas is – not a one of you could possibly defeat him on your own, and even as a collective, you will not succeed unless the power of Nothingness is also on your side. This is why you need Xemnas. And this is also why for the time being, you will be able to do little other than supply him with a diversion. But do not despair. Once you are inside Kingdom Hearts, the light of the Keyblades held by Roxas and Sora will resonate with the hearts that lay dormant within. Using the power of those hearts, Sora and Roxas will be able to amass them into a suitable pool of light, which I will be able to use to piece Xemnas back together."

"So our mission is to keep Zexemnas occupied while the Keybearers help you with Xemnas." Saïx deadpanned the short version. Really, this voice talked far more than was necessary. "And after he's been revived? What then?"

"At that point, Xemnas will assume command of his Organization. The battle will be in his hands."

"So that's basically like saying you don't know, right?" Larxene asked apathetically.

"I do not. The defeat of his darker half is something that only Xemnas could know. I can only take you all so far."

"Fine then." Saïx answered. "Take us into Kingdom Hearts then."

The gathering of warriors all seemed as though they were, more or less, ready to go, some of them still tired, but thanks to some of the partial healing they had received earlier, one more fray wasn't _totally_ out of the question.

"Very well." was her phrase of acquiescence.

It took only but a moment, and another blindingly bright flash of light, and the group could feel that they had moved. As the spots faded from their vision, they found themselves standing on roads of dark, deep purple concrete. Looking around, the ensemble was surrounded by giant buildings of blackest pitch, their high, pointed heights twisting and contorting into odd curls and knots as they reached for the shroud of deepest violet that seemed to function as sky. The city, for lack of a better word, which surrounded them was somewhat similar to the city in The World That Never Was, which they were all quite familiar with. However, if possible, this place was darker, more twisted, the buildings were taller, and there were no windows or lights. In fact, the entire realm seemed to lack any visible light source, and yet the entirety of the landscape was visible all the same.

Off in the distance, a tall, pointed castle stood ominously over the distant buildings. More unsettling still was the activity above the castle – hearts, numbering in the probable thousands, danced in streaming pathways across the sky overhead, flowing into the various pointed spires of the castle and disappearing.

"They are being drawn in." the enigmatic voice spoke up, still present with them all here within Kingdom Hearts. "He is going to use those hearts to open the doors. You must stop him before that happens. He is, as I'm sure you must have guessed, waiting within his Castle for the hearts he has gathered to be sufficient. You must go and intercept him immediately."

Not wanting to waste time arguing, they nodded their understanding before setting off one by one, Sora and Roxas staying behind with the Light Voice. However, before Marluxia could head off as well, she called to him.

"Marluxia, please, a moment."

The Assassin stopped and turned to her, covering his eyes at her shine. "What? We aren't exactly long on time."

"I am aware. But there is a grave matter I must discuss with you. Sora, Roxas? I will need to speak with Marluxia alone, so please begin your tasks while I do so. Use the Keyblade to guide the streams of hearts overhead away from the Castle, and redirect their flow to me, please."

"Awwww. Alright…" Sora agreed with a pout on his face, clearly upset that he was not allowed to listen in on this private affair. Roxas looked like he was also sulking, but that was probably still from Saïx calling him an idiot. He nodded wordlessly and wandered off with Sora to set about the task of rerouting those pesky, wayward hearts.

"What is it?" Marluxia asked, once the boys were out of earshot.

"It is not at my pleasure that I tell you this, Marluxia. You are doomed to die."

"What!" he exclaimed in surprise, not exactly expecting that sort of declaration.

"I am afraid it's true. When Zero resurrected you at the Altar of Souls, he never intended for you to be given a full, lasting life. It is unfortunate, but the individual who conducts the ritual is able to use their own discretion in regards to the life span of the subject, to varying degrees. If Zero had poured much of his energy into your card prior to resurrection, you would have been fully revived to a normal life. But Zero only used a portion of his energy in doing so, and thus limited your time."

"What… I…. how much time do I have?"

"It's not a definitive amount, unfortunately. I couldn't tell you exactly how much time you have left. What I can tell you is that as time advances, you will slowly begin to wither. It will be as if your body is deteriorating at a minute pace until finally you die."

"So I suppose…" Marluxia's head hung as he spoke in a solemn tone. "My only purpose was to warn the others about Xemnas. With that purpose fulfilled, I am doomed to simply die once again."

"Your death will be inevitable. I am sorry. But… there is one thing we can do, to make the most of the time you have left."

Marluxia looked up (slightly, so as to avoid looking directly at the light, because he wasn't silly guys). "Oh?"

"I can provide you with a card that will extend your Life Force, allowing you to live past the limited clock Zero has set for you. It will not be an especially long time – at most, I can speculate that the Card will increase your Life Expectancy by a year. But only at most, and in all likelihood, it will probably be much less."

"I don't quite understand."

"My apologies. The card I am going to give you will allot you one year's worth of life, simply by possessing it. However, the card is also a container for a vast amount of energy – energy which you could use to obtain levels of strength you may never have thought possible for you before. But the catch, Marluxia, is that by using the energy the card will afford you, you will also decrease the amount of time you have left for each use. The time that is knocked away from your life expectancy is directly proportional to the amount of power you use from the card. And I fear that in coming times, you will need to use this power extensively."

"So essentially…" The Graceful Assassin turned away from the bright light and stared at the sky, at the hearts whose paths were changing now, heading in their direction. "My days are numbered no matter what I do. If I accept your offer, I will succeed in giving myself only a little more time than I would have had left."

"This is correct."

"Fine. I accept your offer. If I am to die, I will at least maintain a purpose. This power you speak of will surely allot me such a purpose."

"Very well then. Accept it now!" and as she called the command, a new light formed in front of Marluxia, bright and glimmering for just a brief moment before it settled into a small, silver shape. A card of polished steel. "That is it. Keep it with you, and its power is yours."

"I have a question." Marluxia stated as he held the item between two fingers and stared upon it. "If this card can grant the user great strength, why not give it to someone who isn't in imminent danger of death?"

"Surely you must have guessed that. From the moment you use this card, your life will be signed to it. It matters not who would use it,"

"They would die all the same. So you thought you'd give it to the guy who was going to die anyway."

"…I am sorry."

Marluxia didn't answer. He simply tucked the card away and exited the area, racing off to join his comrades in their attack on Zexemnas's castle.

* * *

What is a Man?

* * *

"We asked for a game-changer, and it seems we most certainly got one." DiZ remarked with a bit of a sour expression, sitting lazily in his seat, ignoring his computers for once. There was really nothing left for him to do now, and he was in far too foul a mood to worry over his puppet hobby.

Zero seemed equally as displeased, or at the very least, he wasn't smirking or grinning as he usually was. "It _is _a larger challenge than I had anticipated." he agreed thoughtfully. "In fact, this sets me back a great deal."

"This Zexemnas fellow," DiZ spoke with a derisive snort at the absurd moniker. "He has seized control of Kingdom Hearts from us. It is more than a set back, Zero. It reduces nearly everything to ruins."

"Would you relax? True, a good deal of our efforts have essentially been tossed aside thanks to this nonsense. But the situation isn't entirely unsalvageable."

"I'm aware of this. But I do believe a man is permitted to sulk a bit when he sees fruitless ends to his means."

"I suppose you're right. At the moment there is little we can do other than hope the fools can kill him. Loathe as I am to admit it, he's far too powerful for me to handle on my own. But that meddlesome emissary is lending her aid to them, so it shouldn't be long before he's dead. When that time comes, we will simply have to take some extra care in laying out a more distinct path for our pawns to follow."

"Not to mention nursing Kingdom Hearts back to health. It is surely going to suffer dire wounds as a result of this fiasco."

"It is but one of the great hearts, however. The Kingdom Hearts of Men is not a difficult one to heal. We will simply need to supply it with more hearts. The Soul Snatchers can see that task accomplished with relative ease. The Kingdom Hearts of Worlds is still quite healthy and untouchable as of present. However, if our daring heroes are unable to defeat Zexemnas soon enough, the hearts of the worlds will come under harm. Only then will we have ourselves a problem."

"And therein lays the worry. We are forced into dependence upon that pitiful Organization to ensure that all our plans don't fall apart…" DiZ seemed thoughtful for a moment as he rested his chin upon his fist, staring out of one of the windows of his ivory-white tower to gaze upon the shifting folds of darkness of the realm beyond. Then he smiled. "But I believe I may have a solution to our worries."

"Oh?" Zero raised an eyebrow in intrigue as DiZ suddenly stood from his seat and bustled over to his computer with seemingly renewed vigor. "And what would this miracle solution be?"

"We are apprehensive about believing in the strength of our "heroes", as well we should be. But what if I were to supply them with some aid? The situation would no longer be entirely in their hands. Additionally, I have completely forgotten that they have yet to learn I am working with you; they'd be perfectly willing to accept help that I offered."

"I fail to see how this solves all our problems. What can you do that will provide such a boon to them?" Zero asked, still rather interested despite his words.

"I have data on each of them stored in my systems, valuable combat data that can even replicate their strengths in simulated environments. With this data, I can construct a set of specialized weapons with enhanced properties for our dear friends to use."

"Weapons that could enhance their performance in battle? That _would_ be helpful, wouldn't it? It would certainly improve the odds of defeating Zexemnas."

"Ah, but that is not all. While they make use of these weapons, they would allow me to continually gather data on them for each use." The scientist chuckled in controlled mirth as he scanned over the information he was pulling up, various images of weapons and bar graphs detailing specs and what not scrolling across the screen far too rapidly for any normal mind to process them. "Eventually, the data I gather from their continued usage will allow me to know each of them in and out, near flawlessly. They will cease to be a worry when the time comes for them to inevitably face us."

"And I suppose there's no worry of those weapons of yours being used against us eventually?"

"Naturally. A scientist would never allow his tools to be used against him. When they have fulfilled their use, I can simply delete them and rob the Organization of their boon."

"That sounds like a splendid idea. Well, whenever you're ready then, I'll be happy to open up a gateway into Kingdom Hearts for you. The weapons won't be a great deal of use if you are unable to deliver them."

"Well, while you wait for me to get things prepared, why don't you go and look for "Ansem"? I haven't seen him about lately. He is a servant and must be kept under heel."

"Mister Slave driver." Zero replied with an eye roll. "Fine. I'll go and find him, but I expect things to be ready when I get back."

"It won't take long."

Zero chose not to answer as he turned and stepped over to the window DiZ had been peering through. Here was the one shining beacon in an ocean of darkness. Their new home away from homes, as it was, in the one place where none could follow freely. It was here in the deepest shadows of the Realm of Darkness where DiZ had built their stronghold, a tall, shining White Tower. It stood in immaculate pride, overlooking the endless expanse of shade and umbra. In this stark location, only those whose hearts were fully immersed in the darkness could come to enter. This realm was bereft of the light.

Zero stood on the window sill as his eyes traveled the dark waves, finding only multitudes of Heartless that scuttled about the shadows as though they were rolling cozily in the sheets of an oversized bed. Zero leaped from the sill, his heels barely scraping against the sides of the tower as he plummeted downward. Twin Keyblades appeared in his hands then, which he aimed behind him to drag along the tower walls as well, slowing his plummet to an easy slide. As he approached the bottom, he suddenly kicked off the walls and performed an acrobatic somersault, landing gracefully on the mucky darkness which functioned as floor. A nearby Heartless held up a sign with a "10" on it. Zero thanked it. And then he set off to search the darkness for Ansem.

* * *

Apathy ~ Entropy

* * *

It had been a surprisingly uneventful trip through the castle thus far. The Organization had passed through the large, foreboding city without issue, having no minions or underlings that needed facing, and had even found the castle doors unguarded. If anyone had to estimate, they had probably managed to scale about half of the structure before opting to take a rest. Quite inconveniently, they also found that Corridors of Darkness did not seem to work within the Castle, forcing them to scale it the old fashioned way as opposed to simply teleporting through it to reach Zexemnas.

Larxene had a few choice words to share in regards to that matter, but I will choose not to share them with you.

"Alright, does anyone else require a juice box?" Saïx asked the group, who were all sitting and resting on the landing of a large staircase. This castle had way too many stairs. Saïx had taken it upon himself to doll out juice boxes to everyone.

"I would like one please." Kairi raised her hand, happily accepting the sugary drink and sipping at it as soon as she managed to jam the straw into its vulnerable orifice.

"Ya know, Kairi, don't take this the wrong way," Axel said, sipping at his own juice box. "But why are you and Naminé even here? I mean, you're great to have as an assist or backup with your Holy magic and stuff, but you usually need Sora to protect you, and he's not here. And Naminé was only ever useful in battle while she had her Heathen Magic, but seeing as she lost her spell book, that's no longer really a thing. So… isn't it kind of a liability to have you guys here?"

Kairi gave Axel a blank stare, and within her sarcastic gaze was every condescendingly demeaning insult to intelligence known to man. "Axel." she said, putting her juice down. "Holy magic is always useful. But that is not my main point." she then stood up and held her hand out. The Destiny's Embrace Keyblade appeared. "My main point is that I can also do this." she then gave Axel a sound smack to the head with the blunt of the weapon, causing him to yelp in pain. "Do not question my might. You do not want to see the day Kairi loses her shit." she warned, and for good measure, looked all around the circle to make sure the message had been received.

Everyone looked slightly uneasy. Except for Larxene, obviously. She just looked possibly aroused. Naminé then spoke. "And just for the record, Heathen Magic wasn't the _only _thing I was good at. I can cast Holy, too. Also, I've never really tried, but I can theoretically wield a Keyblade, you know. Besides, my drawings cause crazy things to happen too, so there's that."

"Bottom line is that we are useful." Kairi made sure to point out. No one argued.

As this was going on, a Corridor of Darkness opened, and everyone was seriously about to go crazy about it. But then out stepped DiZ, arms behind him and looking composed as usual.

"Greetings."

Kairi and Naminé both jumped up in glee and ran forward, giving DiZ a giant hug. He smiled and returned the hug in a grandfatherly fashion.

"DiZ!" Kairi yelled.

"We thought you were dead!" Naminé cried out as well, sounding sad.

DiZ looked quite shocked. "Why, what ever would cause you to think that?"

Both girls looked up at him with large, adorable eyes. "Zero told us! He said you were long gone and we thought the worst!"

DiZ breathed a sigh and shook his head. "Ah yes, him. I've had my hands full dealing with him over the last several days. He's certainly made a point of keeping me in check. No doubt his words were meant to mislead you and steer you into a false state of despair. I assure you girls, I have been spending my time trying to avoid him and stay out of his clutches. I have only just finally managed to lose him for the moment, and decided to come and offer my aid while I could."

Kairi and Naminé jumped up and down and cheered, while the rest of the Organization all stood and prepared to inquire as to the nature of this 'help' DiZ spoke of.

"The last time you offered to help us, you gave us that Kingdom Card and tipped us off on the whole Zero thing." Xigbar pointed out. "And now he's apparently been hassling you. I don't really like you, old man, but none the less you did us a solid. You sure you want to offer any more help? You'd be sticking your neck out further for us."

"That was a surprisingly decent sentiment, Braig." DiZ replied, not coldly, but not warmly either. "But I openly discourage any worrying over me that you feel the need to do. I can handle myself with no trouble. Now then, what I would like to offer you are these." DiZ then produced a small deck of cards from behind his back. Because cards are all over the place in this story. "The enemy you are preparing to engage must certainly be stopped, lest he tamper with the fabric of the worlds, but as you are now, you stand little chance of defeating him. These cards contain powerful new weapons that I would have you all wield, made from combat data I have gathered on you all in the past. They will act to greatly enhance your powers and abilities, and with their aid you may be able to defeat that accursed Nobody."

"New weapons? Awesome." Larxene immediately reached for the deck and snatched it from DiZ's hand, rifling through the cards until she found one displaying a picture of some awesome-looking throwing knives. She then plucked that card out of the deck and carelessly tossed the rest of the cards behind her, where they scattered on the floor.

Everyone cursed loudly at her. Saïx then sighed and stooped down to pluck up the cards, handing them out to their respective recipients. "How do we apply these?"

"Simply summon your weapons and place the cards against them." DiZ instructed. "They will naturally absorb the advancements. Now I'm afraid I cannot linger. There is still much I must do to keep Zero occupied and on his toes. I wish you all the best of luck." DiZ then gave Naminé and Kairi each a pat on the head before he turned away and absconded through another Dark Portal, which closed soundly behind him.

Demyx frowned. "How is he always able to summon those in situations where we can't? It really bothers me."

"Cry more, bitch." Larxene replied absently, eyeing her fancy new knives (having wasted no time in applying the upgrade to them).

The other members shrugged and followed her example, noting the changes in their weapons with approval as they upgraded the items one by one. There were a few cards remaining in the deck – a card depicting a shield, one depicting an Axe Sword, another showing off a glowing blade, another which bore the image of more cards, and two which displayed Keyblades. Saïx tucked them away for later use, assuming any of them got to see such use. After all, two of the recipients for those cards were dead, one was only possibly coming back, one was completely missing in action, and the other two were busy. He also noted that there hadn't been a card for Zexion.

"Shall we advance then?" Saïx asked.

"Not without us!" Roxas shouted, who could now be seen running up the stairs. He arrived at the landing and stooped over, out of breath. "Woo. That was quite a run. Saïx, can I have a juice box?" he asked.

Saïx quickly handed him one. "Where is Sora?"

"Oh, he's not coming. He's staying behind with that Voice to make sure the hearts keep circulating to her and not to Zexemnas."

"Then who did you mean by us?" Axel inquired.

"He meant me." A familiar face crested the stairs, arriving at the landing calmly to stand beside Roxas.

"Xemnas!" Marluxia shouted and prepared to swing his scythe.

"No idiot!" Roxas yelled, stepping in front of Marluxia. "This is the _good _Xemnas! The one who made the truce with Sora and later got taken over by his dark side! Weren't you paying attention to what the voice said AT ALL?"

"Bits and pieces." Marluxia admitted, putting his scythe away. "Well okay, so this Xemnas isn't trying to kill us."

"Yeah."

Xemnas cleared his throat. "I do feel the need to point one thing out to you all however. I am not the _good_ Xemnas. I am the _light _Xemnas. There is a difference."

There was something of an uneasy silence. "What exactly does that mean?" Kairi asked.

"It means that calling me "good"," he explained with a few unnecessary waves of the arms. "Is a bit of a stretch. I plan on maintaining our truce, yes, and putting a stop to those who might harm the worlds. But I am not going to be your friend."

"So in other words, we're basically going to have our old, bossy, somewhat father-like Superior back." Demyx rationalized. He certainly was making good, smart points today.

"Indeeeeeed."

"I can live with that." Xigbar stated. "Not like he ever acted that way to me. Yo Xemnas, drinks later?"

"Indeeeeeed."

"I'll be joining you for those drinks." Xaldin added.

"Indeeeeeed."

"Please stop saying "indeed"." Naminé instructed. "Anyway, we do need to go kick your Dark Half's ass now. So can we go?"

"Young lady, do not take that tone with me." Xemnas glared. Naminé backed down. "Now then, let us go and kick my Dark Half's ass."

And so the group cheered and proceeded to head up the remaining stairs. Saïx handed Xemnas his weapon upgrade, but Xemnas threw it aside, not caring about it.

* * *

Drok Sid

* * *

They had arrived. Yes, already. It wasn't a very eventful trip up the remaining stairs. It was simply a bunch of stairs and a door at the top of them. When the door had opened, they entered the newly located room.

It was rather dark. Dimly lit, one might say. And long; the room looked more like a giant hallway than a simple chamber. And at the end of the long hall, sitting on a throne fit for a King in the dim glower of the chamber was Zexemnas. He sat at ease, one leg crossed over his knee, his cheek resting against the fist of his arm, which was in turn propped against the arm of the throne. His other arm was draped over the throne's second arm, at ease as well. And his eerie, golden eyes stared at his new guests from beneath low eyelids, incredibly relaxed and yet vivid in their intensity.

"Xemnas." he spoke. Where before he had only spoken with a singular pitch, this time his words seemed to be spoken by two voices at once. "We are mildly surprised to see you standing before us."

"I warned you that you would fail." Xemnas replied calmly.

"And yet here we are, on the verge of success. All that remains is to clear away the pests that hinder us."

Zexemnas very slowly moved to get up from his throne, taking careful, languid motions. His eyes were closed as he stood to his full height, breathing out audibly.

Xemnas did not need to look to see that his Organization was readying their weapons for battle. "Roxas." he spoke.

"Yes?" Roxas replied, glancing at Xemnas while trying to keep his focus on the enemy across the hall.

"None of us, in our present states, possess what is necessary to defeat him. Would you do me a favor and fuse with me?"

"Wait, WHAT?"

The others seemed to be surprised by this as well. Xemnas was unfazed. "Merely temporary. I no longer possess any darkness, and you are a being of light. We are compatible, should I offer you my Soul Card. As a fusion, we will be able to defeat Zexemnas. But care will need to be taken to only maintain it for a brief time. Should we tarry too long in a merged state, it will become irreversible."

"Um, wow. Xemnas, that's quite a lot to take in all at once."

"I'm afraid we have little time for debate."

Zexemnas opened his eyes finally, staring humorlessly at his opposite. "How foolish of you. The boy puts his precious individuality on a higher pedestal than anything else. He will not be able to fully commit himself to such a union. Your link, should you create one, will pale in comparison to us."

Xemnas placed his hand on his chest, and after a moment, a card materialized in his palm. He handed it to Roxas. "Time is of the essence."

Roxas stared at the Soul Card, black in color despite the absence of darkness from it. He looked around for support, but only got confused, unsure looks from his comrades. Then he sighed. "The voice lady said we should trust your plan of action once you were back. So I guess…" Roxas placed the card against his chest. It lit up, and he clenched his eyes shut at the strange feeling.

Xemnas disappeared as the card faded into Roxas's body, and moments later was engulfed in a pillar of light. Another moment and the pillar had faded. Roxas stood, much taller than he had been before, and with darker skin, much the same as Zexemnas. His hair still held its typical style, but was a bit longer, making it appear more pointed. It also sported a pale, barely blond color to it, and his eyes held the same gold color as Zexemnas's. Where Zexemnas wore a cloak of intermingling black and white, Roxas simply wore a pure white robe.

He turned to face his comrades. "Xemnas is giving me instruction from in my head, but we aren't totally joined or anything. I'm still me." he said, particularly to Naminé, who looked worried. "So you can still call me Roxas guys. Don't invent some stupi-"

"Dude, we're totally calling you Roxem." Xigbar said.

Roxem (yes, Roxem) looked agitated. "Please don't."

"Shut up and go rock 'em, Roxem."

He sighed and groaned in despair, but then abruptly summoned two glowing, red Keyblades and rushed at his enemy. Zexemnas glared and summoned a very long, pale-violet blade, which he used to deflect the incoming dual attack, utilizing some very fancy footwork as he easily blocked the incoming assaults from both weapons.

"It is just as we said. Without a full union, you cannot hope to defeat us. Having Xemnas whisper commands and instructions into your ear won't help you defeat us." Zexemnas chided as he knocked Roxem away. "Your reaction time to receiving those commands is far too slow. Unless your thoughts exist in sync with his, you cannot outflank us."

Roxem glared as he readied another attack. "Shut up!"

"He still has numbers on his side!" Demyx cried as he suddenly took the offensive, summoning a stream of highly-pressurized water to jet at Zexemnas. The fused nobody quickly countered by waving his sword in an arc, creating a barrier of energy to send the water away.

Xigbar and Xaldin were quick to follow up the assault with a rain of projectiles, however, forcing the man to _roll his eyes_ and lift his hand up, blocking them with a mystic shield. Really, it was amazing how much power you could pull out of your ass from a simple two-person fusion. Of course I'm sure there's a perfectly valid excuse. Like the whole singular consciousness thing.

It didn't stop everyone from trying. Much the same as had occurred in the first battle with Xemnas, attacks were flying around everywhere – fireballs, jets of water, bolts of lightning, blasts of flower energy, gun arrows, lances, holy orbs, and shockwaves from one very angry berserker. Zexemnas seemed to have little trouble avoiding or blocking these attacks, but each time he made to counterattack, there was Roxem, redoubling his offensive efforts to keep Zexemnas on his toes.

The two fused Nobodies clashed more so than the others, their attacks dominating the conflict while the onlookers simply fired their supporting techniques. Roxem seemed to be gaining the upper hand as the battle wore on, his attacks gaining more ferocity and speed, and the placid apathy which was firmly fixed upon Zexemnas's face seemed to be slowly dissolving as he made to keep up. He placed his long saber horizontally in front of him to block two downward slices of red, bracing himself as his aggressor made to press in against the struggle of blade against blade.

"You are becoming problematic." Zexemnas spat.

"Am I too much for you?" Roxem taunted as he pushed further, his physical strength seeming to be downright oppressive. But his opponent only shook his head.

"We have been fighting for ten minutes already. You cannot keep this up. If you continue to engage us like this, you shall be permanently joined together forever. We would estimate only another ten minutes remain for you. Can you bear such a thing?"

This seemed to upset Roxem, and his force faltered. Zexemnas pressed back on this opening, smashing Roxem away from him and into a wall, leaving a heavy crater on the impact. Then the Nobody raised his idle hand and finally summoned a second sword of his own. "We have been engaging you with but a single weapon, and it has taken you ten minutes to finally match us. What will you do now that we possess two?"

Roxem shook himself off as he climbed from the crater, determination written on his face. "I'll just have to step things up and beat you in five!"

"Your joke amuses us. You cannot honestly expect to succeed. We are within our domain, fool. Kingdom Hearts has bestowed its blessing upon us, and soon, the Heart of all Worlds will be in our hands. We are far more powerful."

"Oh my god, would you stop with the "we"!" Larxene shouted. Everyone turned in her direction to see the vixen quite riled up, looking beyond frustrated. "I have had it up to HERE with it. You have no idea how annoying it is. I don't care if you're a stupid fusion, you're still one person. Stop saying "we", it's incredibly pretentious."

"Yeah, seriously." Naminé agreed, surprisingly. "It's not as if you're some genderless emissary from some indestructible dimension. You have no grounds to be using "we"."

"Silence." Zexemnas commanded. "_Our _use of _we_ is a symbol. _We _are a conjoined consciousness. Simply referring to ourselves as a singular entity would hardly be proper. And by the way." he responded scornfully, looking upon Roxem again. "You have merely seven minutes, by my estimation."

Roxem wasted no time in charging forward, his blades glowing with radical, uncapped energy, extending their lengths beyond their norm as he swung rapidly in flying waves of red, streaking the air. Zexemnas responded by twirling his own blades in rapid rotary motions, circles of violet energy to counteract the raining blows of crimson.

A whorl of petals signaled the sudden warping of Marluxia, who suddenly appeared behind Zexemnas to swing his scythe downward. Thinking nothing of it, the impassive man simply conjured a force barrier behind him to repel the attack.

But it seemed that that wasn't going to quite do the trick. Marluxia's scythe, glowing with a serene glow, cleaved straight through the barriers and into Zexemnas's left shoulder, ripping out a sizable chunk of flesh, much to his avid surprise and pain. This, in turn, resulted in his arm going slack, providing an opening for Roxem to take a swing at his exposed side.

Thinking quickly, Zexemnas conjured a bubble of darkness around himself, quickly moving away from the attack and out of range of his two aggressors. The bubble cleared away as soon as he had mobilized, and he raised his good arm to prepare for any further attacks.

"We demand an explanation for that power."

Marluxia smiled, his entire body glowing with a pale, silver outline. "I'm sure you'd love to know."

"Do not bother trying to hide it. It is clear that that meddlesome emissary granted you this strength. Are you touched in the head? That power will eat away your life."

"I'm well aware." Marluxia replied sternly. He wasted no more words as he swung as his blade wide, creating an array of energy which took the shape of flowers, diving for Zexemnas.

He cleaved through the incoming attack with powerful swings, a show of true effort displayed on his features as they continued to barrage him. Marluxia glanced at Roxem for a moment before swinging his scythe once again, a crescent energy beam launching as he did so.

Quick as a flash, Roxem jumped aboard the beam and rode upon it as it sailed for Zexemnas, leaping off of it as it neared and landing behind him. A powerful upward swing from Zexemnas, and the beam was deflected. A powerful forward thrust from Roxem, and Zexemnas was impaled from behind.

"Gaahhhh!" he cried out as the bright red blade protruded from his body.

"Hey, Roxem!" Kairi cried indignantly from across the room. "Zexion is still in there! What are you doing!"

"It's alright." Roxem said as he stared at the writhing Zexemnas with a cold expression, his blade still sticking straight through the man, who seemed nearly helpless now. Then Roxem lifted his free blade and plunged it through him as well, parallel to his first stab.

Zexemnas didn't even cry out this time, simply gritting his teeth and dropping his weapon as he waited for the inevitable. Roxem then pulled both of his blades in opposite directions, making as if to rip his adversary into two halves.

And he did. But not quite in the literal sense. As he pulled the fused Nobody's body apart, there was a sudden eruption of darkness which flooded the room, knocking several of the on-looking individuals aside, as well as Marluxia, who was unprepared for such an onslaught. As the flood of darkness diminished, two bodies were seen flying across the room in opposite directions, both hitting one of chamber walls and slumping to the ground. And where Roxem stood, there were also now two individuals.

Xemnas patted Roxas on the shoulder and nodded. "Well done, Number 13. Now we must simply finish the job." His eyes traveled to where one of the bodies had fallen, a man whose appearance was almost exactly identical to Xemnas's – the only difference was the sizable wound on his shoulder.

"Yeah. But, really quick," Roxas said, looking up at Xemnas. "We DID separate completely, right? I know you said we were cutting it pretty close. There's not like, any of YOU still lingering in me, right?"

Xemnas sighed and shook his head. "No. We are completely separated. The union was not made permanent, and we could separate freely. Stop asking that."

"Okay, I mean, I was just checking, you know?"

"Stop talking."

Roxas shut up and looked away. Xemnas then made to approach the other Xemnas, looking down upon him with scorn. "To this day, I still know not entirely where you came from. But you will no longer cloud my judgment." Xemnas's deep voice resounded with a subtle, killing intent as he summoned a single Ethereal Blade and drove it into the other Xemnas's chest, who was still slumped in a daze against the wall. Well, at least until the blade made contact with his chest. Then he was quite wide awake and looking up in horror.

Xemnas withdrew the blade then, and impaled upon its tip was a black card. Xemnas took that card in hand, and a moment later, it combusted into black flames, quickly dissolving out of sight.

The Dark Xemnas watched his soul card burn up into nothingness for a moment, and then closed his eyes for the final time, fading away as he went to join it in the void.

"And so ends that most troublesome chapter." Xemnas exhaled. He then turned to his Organization who, other than a few people who had been wounded by the dark explosion, were more or less fine and acting as little more than spectators. "I trust you are all well?"

There were general murmurs of agreement in response, but unsurprisingly, Larxene opted to be the most vocal. "I just want to say I'm kind of irritated I even came here, since pretty much this whole fight was just Roxem and Marluxia working together. I should have just stayed home."

Eyes were rolled, but no one decided to say anything. Except for Naminé. "Oh my god, Larxene, would you just… shut the fuck up. For once. I can't even believe… god. At least you got some free new weapons, for crying out loud. Shut up."

"I would normally stab you for that. And without that little tome of yours you couldn't do shit about it. But I'm gonna let it slide. Like this knife." And then she pulled out a knife and slid its edge quickly along Naminé's exposed arm midriff, drawing a long line of blood. "Have fun with that."

Naminé wanted to explode in pain and rage at the action, but she did in fact remember that without her tome, she couldn't do much against Larxene. How terribly inconvenient. So she kept her mouth shut.

"So… are we done here?" Xigbar asked, sounding bored. "Because I'd like to be done here."

"Uhm, guys." Marluxia spoke up, looking around the room. "Yeah, does anyone know where Zexion went?"

Oddly enough, it hadn't really occurred to anyone to really look around for him after the split. They had all seen a second body fly across the room when Zexemnas was split apart, but Xemnas had pretty much captured all of their attention at that point. Looking now to where Zexion had fallen, he was, as Marluxia pointed out, absent.

"That can't be good. Let's go find him, come on." Xigbar instructed everyone, pointing at a wall and nodding at Saïx. Saïx nodded back and suddenly charged forward, slamming into the wall with his claymore and busting it the fuck open. The party now had a nice, easy, open exit to leave the castle from. Better than traveling a million stairs.

* * *

Walking Among Shadows

* * *

Zexion staggered and limped as he slowly made his way through twisting alleyways and dark lanes, sheltered by tall buildings which loomed overhead. But they would not be there long. He could see the tips of all the buildings in eyesight slowly vanishing. "Zexemnas", their creator, was gone now. The shape that Kingdom Hearts' innards had taken to accommodate him would revert soon enough, back to a light-filled dominion.

The Cloaked Schemer felt he could not take any further steps, and stopped to lean against a cold, concrete wall, taking deep breaths. He could feel the blood on his left shoulder running cold – it would be rather problematic if that ghastly wound wasn't healed soon. And while Zexion knew he had the capacity to fix something so simple, he simply couldn't find the presence of mind to do the job. He was far too preoccupied thinking over this gigantic failure of a plan.

How had he managed to let it all fall apart so horribly? Some schemer he turned out to be. He had needed power. Power to defeat Zero. Power to obtain the lofty throne above all things. To that end, he had allowed himself to fuse with Xemnas… and yet how could he have let his will fall forfeit as it did? What an incredible waste.

Reaching into his pocket with his good arm, Zexion withdrew a shimmering, golden card. The number "07" was visible upon it. And he remembered.

* * *

"_You want me to find your heart?" DiZ asked, amused and perplexed at the same time. "Don't be absurd. Why would I help a traitorous snake like you? And besides, don't you have a truce with Sora between your Organization? You'll have a heart again, eventually, at this rate."_

"_No." Zexion replied coldly, calmly regarding his former mentor. He had come to visit him in his laboratory, pressing matters at hand to be discussed. "I'm afraid that the Kingdom Hearts plan is rather null at this point. Xemnas has killed Marluxia."_

"_Pardon? Color me intrigued." DiZ replied, paying little attention as he browsed through some very important-looking, science-y documents on his desk._

"_Just last night. I've been keeping an eye on Xemnas for some time, you see, and the little arrangement he has with Sora is quite insincere. He plans on simply using us all in the end, and obtaining godhood via the completed Kingdom Hearts. Unfortunately, Marluxia happened to be listening in as well, and made himself known about it. Xemnas killed him."_

_DiZ was chuckling to himself in apparent amusement. "How typical. A traitor to the end."_

_Zexion rolled his eyes. "Moving on. They found the body this morning, and have made arrangements for a funeral. For whatever reason, no one is really investigating the murder. I honestly haven't the foggiest idea why. But the bottom line is that I will not be receiving a heart from Kingdom Hearts any time soon. And if Xemnas has his way, things will become problematic for you as well."_

_DiZ sighed and finally put his documents away, giving Zexion his full attention. "And what exactly would you have me do, then?"_

"_My heartless was destroyed some time ago, but not by Sora. My heart should be adrift somewhere in the Realm of Darkness. I want you to use my data signature to track it down."_

"_You realize that the Realm of Darkness is absolutely riddled with stray, corrupted hearts like yours? It'd be like trying to find half a piece of hay in a million stacks of needles, even with your data signature."_

"_Perhaps with your limited access to it. I'm sure if you were to come into a more useful tool of exploration you would be able to look for it with much less difficulty."_

"_What do you mean to imply?"_

"'_Master Ansem'", Zexion spoke with mock courtesy. "I am well aware that you have continued to dabble in experimentation with the Realm of Darkness. Ever since your return from the Dark Meridian, you have been researching it constantly. And I'm also well aware that you have been trying to find a way to establish a base of operations _within_ the realm itself to accommodate further research. I can help you obtain such a base."_

_DiZ regarded Zexion silently for a moment. "Go on." he said, after a moment._

"_I will supply you with my Dusks, ample servants who will follow your every command, and who can freely enter the Realm of Darkness. With their assistance, you can work toward building your establishment. In addition, I will also offer my personal services for any assistance that they are unable to fulfill. In return, I want you to begin efforts on finding my heart, and should your establishment reach completion, you will use its resources to assist in this endeavor."_

"_And what do you plan on doing with your heart?"_

"_Ideally I will receive it before Xemnas can fully utilize the power of Kingdom Hearts. I will use my newfound strength to put a stop to him."_

"_That's a rather straightforward approach, for you."_

"_There are times when being sneaky and underhanded is not always the most profitable choice of action."_

_

* * *

_

Of course that had all been a lie. But none the less, an agreement was made, and the two had begun working together. A few days later, Roxas won that cruise with Naminé, and Zexion had accompanied them, knowing he would need to keep an eye on things. And lo and behold, he had made the right decision. For then he had met Zero. And reflecting on it, Zero was the cause of all that went wrong.

"What's the matter?" a teasing voice spoke from the shadows. Zexion looked away from the glow of the golden card he held, and before him he could see his servant, Ansem, smirking rather cheekily at him, arms crossed as he stared down at the shorter man. "That was quite the show you put on, Zexion. But you have left me rather perplexed. I simply cannot understand some of the actions you took. Enlighten me, won't you? I dare say you're not going anywhere." he added with a scornful chuckle.

Zexion laughed emptily to himself. _Why not? _Everything was ruined now anyway. There was no harm in disclosing a failed plan that could never be repaired. And really, he needed a vent. He didn't really know, nor care, why Ansem was here.

"As you know, some time ago I made an arrangement with DiZ. I'd offer him my help in furthering his research into the darkness, and in return, he would find my heart. I told him I would use it to stop Xemnas, but you and I both know otherwise. I wanted to beat Xemnas to the punch. I wanted to use my heart to seize control of Kingdom Hearts. Then, I could obtain jurisdiction over the worlds myself. But such a risky plan needed to be well thought out. I had to play my alliances carefully. I rented you out to DiZ as a show of good will, as well as to keep a spy in his midst. I don't know when he struck up an alliance with Zero. I was quite surprised to find out from you that they had been talking while we were stranded on that island, just after I brought Sora to him for his research.

I was quite enraged. If he and Zero were working together, then it was entirely possible my entire deal with him had been made under false pretenses from him as well as myself. I would need to find another way to get what I wanted without drawing his suspicion. So I began working behind the scenes. I spied on Zero and DiZ both, and long before DiZ gave us the "00" card, I knew what the Kingdom Cards were, and what they could do. The power to connect with Kingdom Hearts itself. And so I would use those cards, and with their power I could reach my goal. But no, no, no, there was still more to be done. I needed to maintain the guise of alliance with my comrades to ensure everything went smoothly, so I continued to spy on Zero, more for my own gain, while occasionally letting information slip to Vexen.

And then I let him know the most critical bit of information he would need, the final piece to the puzzle, knowing that Zero would seek to kill Vexen as a result. And he behaved exactly as I had anticipated. With the attention on Zero and Vexen, I made my move and paid Xemnas a visit. By now, I had found one of the Kingdom Cards on my own." Zexion trailed off for a moment while he thought. This was the part where things got complicated. The part where he felt he may have made an error. This may have been where everything fell apart.

"I told Xemnas that he would need one of the Kingdom Cards under his control if he wished to control the Soul Snatcher Heartless. Of course this wasn't true, but he didn't know better. You told me that Zero had already instructed the beasts to obey Xemnas's commands. I simply gave Xemnas a reason to believe they would. So I gave him the "00", which I had been keeping with me since we obtained it. Those idiots don't even realize they're holding a fake that I left with them." Zexion allowed himself a dry chuckle, no real mirth or humor in his voice. There was nothing to truly laugh about.

"Satisfied with the results, I offered Xemnas more if he would offer me alliance. He told me about the fight he hoped to win against his lighter half, allegedly while that lighter half was not conscious of his meetings with me. We arranged that I would keep his Soul safe in exchange for another card, so that he could commune properly with Kingdom Hearts. So I made a show of finding another card, before eventually handing him this one. The "07". And then I ensured that he would indeed lose his battle with the Organization by offering my assistance to Roxas. When he initiated that final attack on us all, I transported Sora and Kairi away – they needed to be alive – and then used his own attack as a distraction to steal the cards I had given him back.

Everything was going according to plan. He died, just as I anticipated, and… I don't understand how it went wrong. I joined his soul with mine so that I could initiate the final step. I would use our union to obtain all the brute power I would need to easily dispatch the likes of Zero, and then I would use everything that Xemnas set up, for my own benefit, obtaining the power of Kingdom Hearts but… somehow I lost myself. Somehow I was unable to control a dead will, and something else occurred. For the first time in a long time, I felt real, _true emotion_. I cannot describe it. Rage, greed, pride – I completely lost sight of my goal. As that abominable fusion, I ignored my opportunity to kill Zero, and failed to rectify the meddling those FOOLS-" he emphasized this point with a pound of his fist against the wall. "-performed in my dominion. I could have easily repaired the issue and picked each of them off and yet that foolish pride in me… I waited. I waited for them to be ready and come to me, and now… now it's all over. I've lost. This realm will return to normal. Xemnas is no longer my tool. The others likely regard me as a traitor. And Zero will have become wise to my machinations by now. Everything was for nothing!" he shouted, avid fury displayed on his features as he stared into the patronizingly smiling face of Ansem, who had calmly stood to listen to the entire self-indulgent rant. "Tell me, Ansem. What am I supposed to do now? What is left for me?" he asked with angered sarcasm.

But to his surprise and horror, he received an answer. All too suddenly a black fist had driven itself into his chest as his eyes widened. He struggled to breathe as he looked up into the face of the dark demon – the creature that acted as Ansem's Guardian. Its arm was extended forward, reaching into his chest.

Ansem's lips curved into a smile of sadistic glee, his eyes alight with a wickedness that Zexion had only ever seen Xemnas match in expression. "This is what is left."

The Guardian yanked its fist back, and Zexion could feel before he saw what the creature had clutched in its fist. There was Zexion's Soul Card, as well as Ansem's own Soul Card. Ansem took the items from his Guardian and continued to smirk, placing his own card onto his chest, where it finally sunk back into him, where it belonged.

Zexion just stared with wide-eyed shock, unable to fully process the situation. He stared for what felt like an eternity, but in reality it could not have been scarcely more than a few seconds. And then he fell. His body could no longer sustain its injuries without its soul.

Thoughts of failure were the last waking things in the Schemer's mind as he faded into nothingness. And where his body had been, two glimmering golden cards, numbered "07" and "00" greeted Ansem's smiling face.

* * *

Oblivion

* * *

Sora was running through a veritable network of alleyways in a rush as he cast his gaze hither and thither, eyes trained for any sign of the Cloaked Schemer. The Organization had come back to find him a few minutes ago, happily reporting their victory over Zexemnas and wondering where Zexion had gone. The nice Voice Lady had said that no one had entered or left Kingdom Hearts since DiZ's arrival earlier (which was news to Sora, but moving on), which implied Zexion was still within this place.

It was important that he be found soon. The realm was deteriorating, and Kingdom Hearts was attempting to revert back to its standard arrangement. Anyone caught inside of it when that happened could be trapped forever.

"Zexion!" Sora called out. "Zexion! Come on, man, we gotta go! Stop sulking about being possessed or whatever, since that's probably what you're doing, and come out already!" He continued to run around, turning through more alleys in frustration as he blindly followed intuition. "Zexion, this isn't funn-"

And then Sora stopped, as he rounded a final corner. Zexion was on the floor, staring blankly as his body was fading away. Ansem was hovering above him, proudly holding Zexion's card in his hand and smirking. Sora didn't know what to think.

And before a word could be spoken, Ansem turned and conjured a Corridor of Darkness, preparing to leave through it. Sora didn't think. He just rushed forward, Ultima Weapon summoned to his grip and trained on Ansem's retreating back. However, he could feel a sudden _yank_ at his collar which pulled him backward, just before a huge black fist plunged into the ground where he had just been standing.

Ansem's Guardian stared at him with menacing, yellow eyes as it lifted its fist from its missed mark. Sora spared a look behind him to see Xemnas, stony-faced as usual, watching as Ansem finished his exit through the portal, a loud laugh of amusement heard over the bubbling shadows. His Guardian watched Sora and Xemnas carefully as it backed away into the Corridor after its master. And then the door closed.

"So he has recovered it." Xemnas said plainly, observationally.

Sora looked over to where he had last seen Zexion, now nothing of him left. He was overcome with feelings of sudden despair as he remembered Zexion protecting and rescuing him. Zexion, who had been possessed by Dark Xemnas's evil. Sora wanted to cry.

"Come." Xemnas remarked, actually managing to look and sound somewhat downcast as he gazed at that spot as well. "We must go before it is too late."

Sora just nodded sadly, and turned to follow Xemnas.

Yet another had been lost.


End file.
